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THE  GENERAL. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 


A  NEW  EDITION. 


i  *■■  ■■■■A 


VOL.  IV. 


Nichols,  Son,  and  Bentley,  Printers, 
*  Red  Lion  Passage,  Fleet  Street,  London. 


THE  GENERAL 

BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY : 

CONTAINING 
AN  HISTORICAL  AND  CRITICAL  ACCOUNT 

Or  THK  9 

LIVES  AND  WRITINGS 

©*  THE 

MOST  EMINENT  PERSONS 

IN  EVERY  NATION; 

PARTICULARLY  THE  BRITISH  AND  IRISH; 
FROM  THE  EARLIEST  ACCOUNTS  TO  THE  PRESENT  TIME. 


A  NEW  EDITION, 

REVISED  AND  ENLARGED  BY 

ALEXANDER  CHALMERS,  F.  S.  A. 


VOL.  IV. 


LONDON: 

FAINTED  FOR  J.  NICHOL8  AND  SON;  F.  C.  AND  J.  RIVINGTON  ;  T.  PAYNE; 
W.  OTRIDGB  AND  SON ;  G,  AND  W.  NICOL  ;  WILKIE  AND  ROBINSON  ; 
J.  WALKER  ;  R.  LEA  ;  W.  LOWNDES  ;  WHITE,  COCHRANE,  AND  CO.  ; 
J.  DEIOHTON;  T.  EOERTON;  LACKINGTON,  ALLEN,  AND  CO.  ;  J.  CARPENTER; 
LONGMAN,  BURST,  RER6,  ORME,  AND  BROWN  ;  CADELL  AND  DA  VIES ;  C  LAW; 
J.  BOOKER  ;  CLARKE  AND  SONS  ;  J.  AND  A.  ARCH  ;  J.  HARRIS ;  BLACK,  PARRY, 
AND  CO.;  J.  BOOTH  ;  J.  MAWMAN ;  GALE  AND  CURTIS;  R.H.EVANS;  J^ 
BATCHARDT '»  HARDING  ;  J.  JOHNSON  AND  CO.  ;  E.  BENTLEY;  AND  J.  FAULDBR, 

1812. 


I 


A  NEW  AND  GENERAL 


BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 


BARN E VELDT  (John  p'Olden),  the  celebrated  Dutch 
statesman,  and  one  of  the  founders  of  the  civil  liberty  of 
Holland,  was  born  in  .1547.  His  patriotic  zeal  inducing 
him  to  limit  the  authority  of  Maurice  prince  of  Orange; 
the  second  stadtholder  of  Holland,  the  partisans  of  that 
prince  falsely  accused  him  of  a  design  to  deliver  his  coun- 
try into  the  hands  of  the  Spanish  monarch.  On  this  ab- 
surd charge  he  was  tried  by  twenty -six  commissaries,  de- 
puted from  the  seven  provinces)  ,<^fidjfip4^,  and  beheaded 
in  1619.  His  sons,  William  And  it£rr6;  With  a  view  of  re- 
venging their  father's  death,  formed  a  conspiracy  against 
the  usurper,  which  was  discovered; William  fled;  but 
R6n6  was  taken  and  condemned  to ;.die;  which  fatal  cir- 
cumstance has  immortalized  the  memory  of  his  mother,  of 
whom  the  following  anecdote  is  recorded.  She  solicited 
a  pardon  for  R6n£,  upon  which  Maurice  expressed  his  sur- 
prise that  she  should  do  that  for  her  son,  which  she  had 
refused  to  do  for  her  husband.  To  this  remark  she  replied 
with  indignation*  "  I  would  not  ask  a  pardon  for  my  hus- 
band, because  he  was  innocent.  I  solicit  it  for  my  son, 
because  he  is  guilty." l 

'  BAItO,  or  BARON  (Peter),  a  learned  divine,  born  at 
Estampes  ip  France,  was  of  the  Protestant  religion,  and 
obliged  to  leave  his  native  country  in  order  to  avoid  per- 
secution. He  removed  to  England,  where  he  was  kindly 
received  and  generously  supported  by  lord  treasurer  Bur- 
leigh, who  admitted  him  into  his  family.  He  afterwards 
settled  in  Cambridge,  upon  the  invitation  of  Dr.  Pierce, 

1  Moreri,- "Universal  History,  fee. 

Vol.  IV.  B 


2  BARO. 

master  of  Peterhouse.  In  1574,  he  was  chosen  the  lady 
Margaret's  professor  at  Cambridge,  which  he  enjoyed  for 
some  years  very  quietly ;  but,  on  account  of  some  opinions 
which  he  held,  a  party  was  at  length  formed  Against  him 
in  the  university.  At  this  time  absolute  predestination  in 
the  Calvinistical  sense  was  held  as  the  doctrine  of  the 
church  of  England.  The  chief  advocates  for  it  at  Cam* 
bridge  ivere  Dr.  ^hit*crea  regius  professor  of  divinity,  Dr. 
Humphry  Tindal,  and  most  of  the  senior  members  of  the 
university.  Dr.  Baro  had  a  more  moderate  notion  of  that 
doctrine  :  and  this  occasioned  a  contest  between  him  and 
Mr.  Laurence  Chadderton,  wh6  attempted  to  confute  him . 
publicly  in  one  of  his  sermons.  However,  qfter  some 
papers  had  passed  between  them,  the  affair  was  dropped 

The  next  dispute  he  was  engaged  in,  was  of  njuch  longer 
continuance.     Dr.  Whitacre  and  Dr.  Tindal  were  deputed . 
by  the  heads  of  the  university  to  archbishop  Whitgift  to 
jMpnplain  that  Pelqgianism  was  gaining  ground  ift  the  uni- 
reriity ;  and,  in  order  to  stop  the  progress  of  it,  they  de- 
fined confirmation  of  some  propositions  they  had  brought 
along  with  them.    These  accordingly  were  established  and 
approved  by  the  archbishop,  the  bishop  of  London,  the  . 
bishop  elect  of  Bangor,  and  some  other  divines ;  and  were 
aftecwank  known  by  the  title  of  the  Lambeth  articles. . 
They  wefe  inipnediately  communicated  to  Din  Baro ;  who,, 
disregarding  them,  prefached  a  sermon  before  the  univer-  . 
tity,  in  wh&h  however  he  did  not  so  much  deny,  as  mo? 
derate    those  propositions:    nevertheless  his  adversaries 
judging  of  it  othe&vise,  the  vice-chancellor  consulted  the  - 
same  day:  with  Dr.  Clayton  and  Mr.  Chadderton,  what 
Should  be  done.     The  neat  day  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the 
fcrchhishop  of  Canterbury ;  who  returned  for  answer,  that 
they  should  call  Baro  before  them,  and  require  a  copy  of 
fris  sermon,  or  at  least  cause  him  to  set  down  the  principal 
heads  thereof.    Baro,  finding  what  offence  was  taken  at 
his  sermon,  wrote  to  the  archbishop ;  yet,  according  to  his 
grace's  directions,  was  cited  before  Dr.  Goad,  the  vice* 
chancellor  in  the  consistory ;  when  several  articles  were  • 
exhibited  against  him.     At  his  last  appearance  the  conclu- 
sion against  him  was,  "  That  whereas  Bfuro  had  promised 
the  vice-chancellor,  upon  his  demand,  a  copy  of  his  ser- 
mon, but  his  lawyers  did  advise  him  not  to  deliver  the 
same ;  the  vice-chancellor  did  now,  by  virtue  of  his  au- 
thority, peremptorily  command  him  to  deliver  him  the 


B  A  R  a  3 

Whole  and  entire  sermon,  as  to  the  substance  of  it,  in 
writing  :  which  Baro  promised  he  would  do  the  next  day, 
and  did  it  accordingly.  And  lastly,  h4  did  peremptorily 
and  by  virtue  of  his  authority  command  Baro,  that  he 
should  wholly  abstain  from  those  controversies  and  articles, 
and  leave  them  altogether  untouched,  as  well  in  his  lec- 
tures, sermons,  and  determinations,  as  in  his  disputations 
and  other  his  exercises.  The  vice-chancellor,  who  had 
proceeded  thus  far  without  the  knowledge  of  the  lord  Bur- 
leigh their  chancellor,  thought  fit  to  acquaint  him  with 
their  proceedings,  and  to  desire  bis  advice.  The  discoun- 
tenance lord  Burleigh  gave  to  this  affair,  stopped  all  far- 
ther proceedings  against  Baro ;  who  continued  in  the  uni- 
versity, but  with  much  opposition  and  trouble  ;  and  though 
be  had  many  friends  and  adherents  in  the  university,  he 
toet  with  such  uneasiness,  that,  for  the  sake  of  peace,  ho 
those  to  retire  to  London,  and  fixed  his  abode  in  Crutched 
Friars ;  where  be  died  about  1 600,  and  was  buried  in  the 
church  of  St  Olave,  Hart-street  He  left  the  following 
works:  l.  "In  Jon  am  Prophetam  Praelectioaes  xxxix.*' 
2.  "  Condones  tres  ad  Clerum  Cantabrigiensem  habits  in 
templo  B.  Mariis."  3.  "  Theses  publicae  in  Scholis  per-' 
watte  et  disputatee."  [These  Theses,  being  only  two, 
were  translated  into  English  by  Joha  Ludbam,  under  these 
titles ;  First,  "  God's  purpose  and  decree  taketh  not  away 
the  liberty  of  man's  corrupt  will.**  The  second,  "  Our 
conjunction  with  Christ  is  altogether  spiritual,"  London 
1590,  8vo.]  4.  "  Precationes  quibus  usus  eft  author  in 
luis  ptttiectipnibus  inchoandis  &  finiendis."  All  these 
were  published  at  London  1579,  fol.  by  the  care  of  Os* 
l&aftdt  Lake,  B.  Q.  fellow  of  King's  college,  Cambr.  who 
corrected  them  before  they  wen*  to  the  press.  5.  "  De 
Fide  ej*s<jue  ortu  et  natur*  plana  et  dilucida  expiicatio," 
&c.  Loftd.  1 580,  8vo,  6.  "  De  praestantia  &  dignitate  diving 
l^gis,  lib.  2,"  158$,  8vq.  7.  "  Tractatus  in  quo  docet 
expeutionem  oblati  a  mente  bomet  fiduciam  ad  fidei jus- 
tifieantis  ngturftoa  pertinere  "  8.  "  Sumina  triuna  sen- 
tentiarom  de  Preedestiuatioae*"  &c.  Hardr.  1613,  8vo. 
pripied  with  the  notes  of  Job,  Piscator,  disquisition  of 
franc.  Junius,  and  prelection  of  Will.  Whitacre.  9» 
*  Special  treatise  of  God's  proridetice,  and  of  comfort* 
against  all  kind  of  crosses  and  calamities  to  be  fetched 
from  the  same;  with  an  exposition  on  Psalm  cvii."     10. 

B2 


4  B  A  R  0. 

Four  Sermons;  the  first  on  Psalm  cxxxiii.  1,  2,  3  ;  these* 
cond,  on  Psalm  xv.  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  &c.   1560,  8VO.'1 

BARO,  o*  BARON  (Bonaventurr),  whose  true  name 
was  Fitz-Gerald,  was  descended  from  a  branch  of  the  Fitz- 
Geralds  of  Burnchureh  in  the  county  of  Kilkenny,  a  family 
settled  in  Ireland  soon  after  the  English  acquisitions  in  tha€ 
country,  which  has  produced  several  men  of  figure  in  the 
church.  .But  he  has  been  more  remarkable  in  the  learned 
world  for  his  maternal  genealogy,  being  the  son  of  a  sister 
of  Luke  Wadding,  that  eminent  Franciscan  friar,  who,  in 
the  seventeenth  century,  demonstrated  his  great  abilities 
and  industry,  by  many  voluminous  treatises  of  genius  and 
labour.  His  tincle  Wadding  took  great  care  of  hrs  educa- 
tion in  his  youth,  which  he  saw  rewarded  by  an  uncommon 
diligence;  and  when  he  was  of  a  proper  age  procured  hi* 
admission  into  the  Franciscan  order,  and  sent  for  him  tc* 
Rome ;  where  he  lived  under  his  own  eye  in  the  college 
of  St.  Isidore,  a  society  of  that  order  founded  by  himself 
in  1625,  for  the  education  of  Irish  students  in  the  study  of 
the  liberal  arts,  divinity,  and  controversy,  to  serve  as  a" 
seminary^  out  of  which  the 'mission  into  England,  Scot- 
land* and  Ireland^  might  be  supplied.  Baron,  after  some 
time,  grew  into  high  reputation,  and  became  especially 
remarkable/for  the  purity  of  bis  Latin  style,  which  procured: 
him  great  reputation.  He  was  for  a  considerable  time  lec- 
turer on  divinity  in  the  above-mentioned  college,  and  in  all 
resided  at  Rome  about  sixty  years,  where  he  died,  very 
old,  and  deprived  of  sight,  March  18,  1696,  and  was 
buried  at  St.  Isidore's.  -  His  works  are,  1 .  "  Orationes- 
Panegyricae  Sacro-Prophanae  decern,"  Romae,  1643,  I2mo: 
2.  "  Metra  Miscellanea,  sive  Carminum  diversorum  libri 
duo ;  Epigrammatum  unus ;  alter  Silvulae ;  quibus  addun- 
turElogiaillastriumviroFum,"  Romse,  1645,  24to.  3.  "Pro- 
lusiones  Philosophicae,"  Romse,  1651,  12 mo.  4.  "Har- 
pocrates  quinque  Ludius ;  seu  Diatriba  silentii,"  Romae* 
1651,  12mo.  5.  "  Obsidio  et  Expugnatio  Arcis  Duncan- 
v  non  in  Hibernia,  sub  Thomfi,  Prestono."  6.  "  Boetius 
Absolutus ;  sive  de  CohsolationeTheologise,  lib.iv."  Romay 
1653,  12mo.  7.  "  Controversiae  et  Stratagemata,"  Lug*. 
duni,  1656,  8vo.     8.  "  Scotus  Defensus,"  Coloniae,  1662, 

folio.     9.  "  Cursus  Philosophicus,"  Coloniae,   1664,  folio! 

*■*  •    *       «  »  •«,  .       •  > 

%  ,»  Biog..Brit.~Wood's  Fasti,  vol.  I.— Strype's  Airojdl,  vol.  II,  38S.  III. 4^ 
48.— Strype's  Whitgift,  44*.  458,  464—477. 


BARO,  '  $ 

4'0.  •?  Epistolae  Farailiares  £araeneticae,"  &c.  These  are 
#mong  his  11-  "  Opuscula  varia  Herbipoli,"  1666,  folio* 
12.  "Theologia,"  Paris,  1676,  6  vols.  13.  "Johannes 
Duns  Scotus,  ordinis  minorum,  Doctor  subtilis  de  Ange- 
Jis  contra  adversantes  defensus,  nunc  quoque  Novitate  am- 
plificatus,"  Florentine,  1678.  14.  "  Annates  Ordinis  S.  S. 
Trinitatis  Redemption  is  Captivorum,  Fundatoribus  S.  S. 
Johanne  de  Math  a,  et  Eelice  de  Valois,"  in  . .  vols,  folio. 
The  first  volume  was  printed  at  Rome  in  168*6,  and  begins 
with  the  year  1 198,  in  which  pope  Innocent  the  Third  gave 
jhabit  to  the  founders,  and  is  carried  down  to  the  year  i  297, 
just  one  hundred  years.  In  this  volume  we  have  an  account 
pf  the  foundations  of  their  convents,  their  privileges,  and 
benefactions,  the  eminent  fathers  of  their  order,  their  mira- 
cles and  actions;  as  also,  the  number  of  slaves  delivered 
by  them  frpm  bondage. l  *   . 

BAROCCI  (Francis),  a  patrician  or  senator  of  Venice, 
distinguished  for  his  knowledge  in  mathematics,  flourished 
about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Some  of  his 
translations,  as  well  as  original  works,  w&e  published  in 
his  life- time,  as  1.  "  Heronis  liber  de  muiehinis  bellicis,  nee- 
jion  liber  de  Geodssia,  ex  Greco  Latine,"  Venice,  1572; 
4to.  2.  "  Procli  in  primum  elementorum  Euciidis  libri 
quatuor,"  translated  into  Latin,  Padua,  1 560,  fol.  He  was 
only  twenty-two  years  of  age,  when  he  published  this  work. 
3^  A  commentary  on  Plato,  "  de  numero  geometrico," 
Boulogne,.  1556;  and  4.  A  system  of  Cosmography,  Ve- 
nice, 158$,  8 vo.  We  have  an  account  likewise  of  one  of 
his  writings,  entitled  "  Cryptographic,"  (or  according  to 
the  Diet.  Hist.  "  Rytmomachia,")  describing  an  ancient 
game  attributed  to  Pythagoras.  This  was  translated  by 
Augustus  4uke  of  Brunswick  and  Lunenburgh,  under  the 
name  of  Gust£vu$  Selenus.  On  Barojcci's  de$th,  his  manu- 
scripts were  sold  by  his  heirs,  and  caqie  to  the  Bodleian 
library,  as  p^rt  of  Langbaine's  collection.  *  ,&*y  w*t*~  At^///  £ud 

BAROCCIO*  (Frederic),  an  eminent  Italian  artist,  was  *<***<  £rf& 
Jbora  at  Urbino,  in  1528,  and  was  the  disciple  of  Battista'jgeA^^  / 
Venetiano,  by  whom  he  was  carefully  instructed  in  the  ^    ■  Jp 
principles  of  painting,  but  he  derived  his  knowledge  of  per-  ^°^  ^*** 
spective  from  his  uncle  Bartolomeo  Genga.     Under  those  ^«*«^ 
preceptors  he  practised  assiduously,    tiji  be  was  in  his 
twentieth  year;  and  then  visited  Rome,  where,  under  the 

*  Biog.  JBfrit.  *  Moreri.— Diet.  Hist.-—Fabric.  Bibl.  Graee* 


?» 


\ 


6  B  A  B  O  C  C  I  O, 

patronage  of  cardinal   della  Rovere,     he    pursued   his 
studies  incessantly,  and  proved  one  of  the  most  graceful 
painters  of  his  time.     At  his  return  to  his  native  city  Ur« 
bino,  be  painted  several  pictures  which  procured  him  great 
applause ;  but  that  of  a  St.  Margaret  raised  his  reputation 
to  the  highest  pitch,  and  induced  pope  Pius  IV.  to  invite 
him  to  Home,  where  he  employed  him  in  the  decorations 
of  his  palace  of  Belvedere,  in  conjunction  with  Federigo 
jZucchero.     He  excelled  equally  in  history  and  portrait, 
but  his  genius  inclined  him  more  particularly  to  the  paint- 
ing of  religious  subjects  ;  and  his  works  sufficiently  evince, 
that  the  utmost  of  his  ambition  was  to  imitate  Correggio  ia 
his  colouring,  and  Raphael  in  his  manner  of  designing. 
But  Correggio  has  somewhat  so  natural,  so  gratfd,  so  unaf- 
fectedly graceful,  that  Baroccio  was  far  inferior  to  him, 
although  perhaps  more  correct  in  the  outlines.    Sir  Joshua 
.Reynolds,  who  thought  him,  upon  the  whole,  one  of  Cor- 
reggio's  most  successful  imitators,  says,  that  sometimes  in 
endeavouring  at  cleanness  or  brilliancy  of  tint,  he  overshot 
the  mark,  and  falls  under  the  criticism  that  was  made  on  an 
ancient  painter,  that  his  figures  looked  as  if  they  fed  upon 
roses.     It*  is,  however,  singular  to  see  colours  of  such  va- 
riety coalesce  so  sweetly  under  his  pencil,  that  perhaps  no 
music  reaches  the  ear  with  purer  harmony,  than  hi&  pic- 
tures the  eye;  an  effect  produced,  in  a  great  measure,  by 
his  attention  to  chiaroscuro,  which  he  may  be  said  to  have 
introduced  to  the  schools  of  Lower  Italy,  and  which  to  ob- 
tain be  rarely  painted  any  historical  figure  without  having 
either  modelled  it  in  wax,  or  placed  some  of  his  disciples 
in  such  attitudes  as  he  wished  to  represent.     It  is  said  that 
when  young,  he  was  attempted  to  be  poisoned  at  a  dinner 
given  by  some  of  his  rival  artists,  and  that  although  he  es? 
caped  with  his  life,  he  continued  long  in  an  infirm  state. 
He  must,  however,  have  completely  recovered  from  this 
attack,  as  his  life  was  prolonged  to  the  advanced  age  of 
eighty-four.     He  died  at  Urbino  in   1612.     Baroccio  was 
also  an  engraver  from  some  of  his  own  compositions*  an4 
his  plates,  although  slight,  arid  not  well  managed,  with  re- 
spect to  the  mechanical  part  of  the  workmanship,  are  never- 
theless most  admirable,  on  account  of  the  expression,  and 
excellent  drawing,  which  is  discovered  in  them.    His  head! 
are  very  beautiful  and  characteristic  ;  and  the  other  extre- 
mities of  his  figures  finely  marked.     Amidst  all  the  diffipuU 
ties  he  appears  to  have  met  with,  in  biting  his  plates  with 


BAROCOIO.  f 

the  aquafortis*  after  he  had  etched  thein,  and  iris  unskilful- 
ness  in  handling  the  graver,  to  harmonize  and  finish  them, 
the  hand  of  the  master  appears  so  evident,  that  the  beau- 
ties we  discover  in  them  far  overbalance  the  defects.  * 

BARON  (Bernard),  an  engraver  of  considerable  fame 
in  this  country,  was  i  native  of  France,  and  there  first 
learned  his  art.  He  was  brought  into  England"  by  Dubosc, 
with  whom  he  went  to  law  respecting  the  plates  for  the 
story  of  Ulysses,  engraven  from  the  designs  of  Rubens  in  the 
collection  of  Dr.  Meade.  Being  afterwards  reconciled, 
Baron  accompanied  Dubosc  to  Paris  in  1729,  and  engraved 
a  plate  from  Watteau,  and  engaged  to  do  another  from 
Titian  in  the  king's  collection,  for  Mons.  Crozat,  for  which 
he  was  to  receive  60/.  sterling.  While  at  Paris,  tbey  both 
sat  to  Vanloo.  How  soon  afterwards  he  returned  to  Eng* 
land,  is  not  known,  'but  he  died  in  Panton-square,  Picca- 
dilly, Jan.  24,  1762.  Hte  manner  of  engraving  seems  to 
have  been  founded  on  that  of  Nicholas  Dorigny.  It  is 
slight  and  coarse,  without  any  great  effect;  and  his  draw- 
ing is  frequently  very  defective.  He  executed,  however, 
a  gfeat  number  of  works,  a  few  portraits,  and  some  con- 
siderable pictures  after  the  best  masters ;  as  the  family  of 
Cornaro,  at  Northumberland  house;  Vandyke'^  family  of 
die  earl  of  Pembroke,  at  Wilton ;  Henry  VI II.  giving  the 
charter  to  the  barber  surgeons,  from  Holbein ;  the  Eques- 
trian figure  of  Charles  I.  by  Vandyke,  at  Kensington ;  its 
companion,  the  king,  queen,  and  two  children  ;  and  king 
William  on  horseback  with  emblematic  figures,  at  Hamp- 
ton-court. His  last  considerable  work  was  the  family  of 
Nassau,  by  Vandyke.  This,  and  his  St.  Cecilia  froth  Carl6 
Dolce,  he  advertised  in  1759,  by  subscription,  at  a  guinea 
the  pair.  * 

BARON  (Bonaventurb.)    See  BARO. 

BARON  (Hyacinth  TheoooAk),  ancient  professor  arid 
dean  of  the  faculty  of  medicine  at  Paris,  the  place  of  his 
birth,  died  July  29,  175S,  at  about  the  age  of  72.  He  had 
a  great  share  in  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  Paris,  for  1732,  4td; 
and  in  1739,  gave  an  academical  dissertation  in  Latin  on 
chocolate,  "Ah  senibus  Chocolataer  potus?"  which  hdi 
been  often  reprinted.  His  sot),  of  the  same  name,  was 
abo  dean  of  the  faculty  at  Paris,  where  he  died  in  1767,  at 

*  Abrege  des  Ties  dea  Peintres,  rot.  I.— Pilk'mgtoa  and  Strutt'f  Dictionaries, 
— Reynold*'*  Works,  voj.  HI.  p.  1JK. 

*  Strait.— Lord  Orford's  Engravers. 


.• 


S  BARON. 

the  ?ge  of  eighty.  He  was  long  a  surgeon  in  the  armies  of 
Italy  and  Germany,  and  published  some  medical  works; 
There  was  a  Theodore  Baron  before  these,  probably  their 
ancestor,  who,  in  1609,  published  a  curious  work  entitled 
?'  De  operationis  meiendi  triplici  laesione  et  curatiohe,"  of 
which  Haller  gives  a  brief  analysis.  *  * 

,  BARON  (Michael),  an  eminent  French  player,  who 
appears  to  have  had  his  full  share  in  the  annals  of  bio- 
graphy, was  the  son  of  a  merchant  of  Issondun,  and  was 
born  at. Paris  in  1652.  He  entered  first  into  the  company 
of  la  Raisin,  and  some  time  afterwards  in  that  of  Moliere, 
and  quitted  the  stage  in  1696,  either  from  dislike  or  from 
some  religious  scruples,  with  a  pension  of  a  thousand 
crowns  granted .  him  by  the. king.  He  took  up  the  pro- 
fession again,  however,  in  1720,  at  the  age  of  68  ;  and  was 
as  much  applauded,  notwithstanding  his  advanced  age,  a$ 
in  the  early  period  of  his  life.     At  those  lines  of  Cinna, 

Soudain  vous  eussiez  vu,  par  un  effet  contraire, 
Leurs  fronts  p&lir  d'horreur,  et  rougir  de  colere ; 

he  wa$  peen  within  a  minute  to  turn  pale  and  red,  in  con*  * 
formity  to  the  verse.     He  was  styled  with  pne  consent,  the 
Roscius  of  his  times.     He  said  himself,  in  one  of  his  en- 
thusiastical  fits  of  vanity,  that  once  in  $  century  we  might 
see  a  Caesar,  but  that  two  thousand  yesu-s  were  requisite  to 
produce  a  Baron.     One  day  his  coachman  and  his  lacquey 
werje  soundly  chastised  by  those  of  the  rnarquis  de  Biran, 
Tyith  whom  Baron  lived  on  those  familiar  ternis  which  young 
noblemen  frpqu$ptly  allow  to  players.—"  Monsieur  le  mar- 
quis/' paid  he  to  him,  "  your  people  have  ill  treated  mine ; 
I  must  have  satisfaction  of  you."     This  he  repeated  several 
times,  using  always  the  same  expressions,  your  people  and 
mine.    M.  de  Biran,  affronted  at  the  parallel,  replied : 
tf  My  poor  Baron,  what  wouldst  thou  have  me  say  to  thee  ? 
why  dost  thou  keep  any  people  ?"     He  was  on  the  point 
of  refusing  tlje  pension  bestowed  Qn  him  by  Louis  XIV. 
because  the  order  for  it  ran :  "  Pay  to  the  within-named 
Michael  Bpyrun,  called  Baron?  &c."    This  actor,  born  with 
the  choicest  gifts  of  nature,   had  perfected  them  by  the 
utmost  exertions  of  art :  a  noble  figure,  a  sonorous  voice, 
a.  natural  gesticulation,  a  sound  and  exquisite  taste.     Ra- 
pine, versed  as  he  was  in  the  art  of  declamation,  wanting  tq 

}  Pict.  Hist— HaUer  Bibl.  Med, 


BARON.  * 

« 

represent  bis  Andromache  to  the  actors,  in  the  distribution 
of  the  parts,  bad  reserved  that  of  Pyrrhus  for  Baron.  After 
having  shewn  the  characters  of  several  of  the  personages  to 
the  actors  who  were  to  represent  it,  be  turned  towards 
Baron  :  "  As  to  you,  sir,  I  have  no  instruction  to  give  you  ; 
your  heart  will  tell  you  more  of  it  than  any  lessons  of  mine 
could  explain/9  Baron  would  affirm  that  the  force  and  play 
of  declamation  were  such,  that  tender  and  plaintive  sounds 
transferred  on  gay  and  even  comic  words,  would  no  less 
produce  tears.  He  has  been  seen  repeatedly  to  make  the 
trial  of  this  surprising  effect  on  the  well-known  sonnet, 

Si  le  roi  m'avoit  donn€ 
Paris  sa  grand'ville,  &cf 

Baron,  in  common  with  all  great  painters  and  great  poets, 
jvas  fully  sensible  that  the  rules  of  art  were  not  invented 
for  enslaving  genius.     *c  We  are  forbid  by  the  rules,"  said 
this  sublime  actor,  "  to  raise  the  arms  above  the  head ;  but 
if  they  are  lifted  there  by  the  passion,  it  is  right :  passion 
is  a  better  judge  of  this  matter  than  the  rules."     He  died 
at  Paris,  Dec.  22,  1729,  aged  77.    Three  volumes  in  12mo 
/of  theatrical  pieces  were  printed  in  1760,  under  the  name 
pf  this  comedian ;  but  it  is  doubted  ywhether  they  are  all 
bis.     "  L'Andrienne"  was  attributed  to  pere  dela  Rue,  at 
the  very  time  when  it  was  in  full  representation.     It  was 
to  this  that  Baron  alluded  in  the  advertisement  he  prefixed 
to  that  piece.     "  I  have  here  a'  fair  field,"  said  he,  "  for 
complaining  of  the  injustice  that  has  been  iutended  me.    It 
has  been  said  that  I  lent  my  name  to  the  Andrienne.  —  I 
will  again  attempt  to  imitate  Terence ;  and  I  will  answer  as 
he  did  to  those  who  accused  him  of  only  lending  his  name 
to  the  works  of  others  (Scipio  and  Laelius).     He  said,  that 
they  did  him  great  honour  to  put  him  in  familiarity  with 
persons  wbo  attracted  the  esteem  and  the  respect  of  all 
piankind."      The    other    pieces  that  merit    notice   are, 
t€  L'homme  a  bonne  fortune,"  "]La  Coquette,"  "  L'Ecole 
fies  Peres,"    &c.     The  dramatical  judgment  that  reigns 
jn  these  pieces,  may  perhaps  be  admitted  as  a  proof  that 
they  are  by  Baron.     The  dialogue  pf  them  is  lively,  and 
the  scenes  diversified,  although  they  rarely  present  us  witb 
grand  pictures :  but  the  author  has  the  talent  of  copying 
from  nature  certain  originals,  not  less  important  in  society 
than  amusing  on  the  stage.     It  is  evident  that  he  had  stu- 
died tte  world  as  well  as  the  drama.  As  to  the  versification  , 


19  BARON. 

if  Barou  was  an  excellent  actor,  be  was  but  an  indifferent 
poet  The  abb6  d'Alainval  published  the  "  Lettres  si^r 
Baron  et  la  le  Couvreur."  The  father  of  this  famous  ac- 
tor possessed  also  in  a  superior  degree  the  talent  of  decla- 
mation. The  manner  of  his  death  is  remarkable.  Playing 
the  part  of  Don  Diego  in  the  Cid,  his  sword  fell  from  his 
band,  as  the  piece  requires ;  and  kicking  it  from  him  with 
indignation,  he  unfortunately  struck  against  the  point  of 
jt,  by  which  his  little  toe  was  pierced.  This  wound  was  at 
first  treated  as  a  trifle;  but  the  gangrene  that  afterwards 
appeared  requiring  the  amputation  of  bis  leg,  be  would 
not  consent  to  the  operation.  "No,  no,"  said  he;  "a 
theatrical  monarch  would  be  booted  if  he  should  appear 
with  a  wooden  leg ;"  and  he  preferred  the  gentle  expecta- 
tion of  death,  which  happened  in  1655.' 

BARON  (Richard),  a  dissenting  minister,  but  most 
-noted  for  his  zeal  as  a  political  writer,  was  born  at  Leeds 
in  Yorkshire,  and  educated  at  the  university  of  Glasgow, 
which  he  quitted  in  1740,  with  very  honourable  testi- 
monies  to  his  learning  and  perspnal  character,  from  the 
celebrated  Hutchinson,  and  the  mathematical  professor 
Simpson.  Where  he  passed  his  time  after  this,  we  know 
not;  but  in  1753,  he  was  ordained  paster  of  the  dissenting 
meeting  at  Pinners*  hall,  Broad-street,  London,  a  congre- 
gation,  if  we  are  not  mistaken,  of  the  Baptist  persuasion. 
What  he  was  as  a  divine,  is  not  very  clear,  but  the  whole 
bent  of  his  studies  was  to  defend  and  advance  civil  and  re- 
ligious liberty.  This  zeal  led  the  famous  Thomas  Hollis, 
esq.  to  engage  his  assistance  in  editing  some  of  the  authors 
in  the  cause  of  freedom,  whose  works  he  wished  to  reprint 
with  accuracy,  and  in  an  elegant  form.  Toland's  Life  of 
Milton,  Milton's  Iconoclastes,  and  afterwards  an  edition 
of  Milton's  prose  works,  were  prepared  and  corrected  hy 
Mr.  Baron.  For  this  task  he  was  welt  qualified,  being  an 
industrious  collector  of  books  on  the  subject  of  constitu- 
tional liberty,  several  of  which  be  communicated  to  Mr. 
Hollis,  with  MS  notes,  or  memorandums  of  his  own  ih 
the  blank  pages,  in  which,  we  are  told,  he  was  not  always 
in  the  right.  Still  be  was  indefatigable  in  searching  for 
what  he  reckoned  scarce  and  valuable  liberty-tracts,  many 
of  which  Mr.  Hollis  bought  of  him  while  be  lived,  and 
others  he  bought  at  the  sale  of  bis  books  after  His  defcth. 

»  ttct,  flirt.— Moreti. 


BARON.  II 

Mr.  Baron,  we  are  likewise  told,  "  only  breathtd,  he  did 
not  Incur,  in  bis  own  estimation,  but  whilst  be  was  in  some* 
way  or  other  lending  his  assistance  to  the  glorious  cause 
of  religious  and  civil  liberty.  He  wrote,  be  published,  and 
republished  perpetually  in  its  defence.  -  His  character  was 
one  of  the  most  artless  and  undisguised  in  the  world.  He 
was  a  man  of  real  and  great  learning ;  of  fixed  and  steady 
integrity;  and  a  tender  and  sympathizing  heart."  Yet 
with  such  a  heart,  we  are  told,  not  very  consistently,  that 
bad  he  been  mindful  of  his  domestic  concerns,  he  might 
have  left  a  competency  behind  for  his  wife  and  family,  but 
his  whole  soul  was  engaged  in  the  cause,  and  he  neglected 
erery  other  concern.  For  this  absurd  and  unjust  train  of 
feeling,  we  are  referred  to  the  natural  impetuosity  of  bis 
temper,  and  his  eccentricities,  which  indicated  occasional 
derangements  of  mind.  With  many  virtues,  it  is  added^ 
and  a  few  faults,  which  must  have  been  of  a  peculiar  kind, 
since  "  they  only  wanted  the  elevation  of  a  higher  station 
and  a  better  fate  to  have  assumed  the  form  of  virtues," 
Mr.  Baron  passed  the  greatest  part  of  his  life  in  penurious 
circumstances,  which  neither  abated  the  generous  ardour, 
or  overcame  the  laudable  independency  of  his  spirit.  These 
virtues,  "  with  their  blessed  effects/9  were  all  he  left  be- 
hind him,  for  the  consolation  and  support  of  a  widow  and 
three  children.  He  died  at  his  house  at  Blackheath,  Feb* 
22,  1 768.  His  principal  publication  was  a  collection  of/ 
what  he  called  liberty-tracts,  first  published  in  2  vols.  1752, 
under  the  title  of' "  The  pillars  of  Priestcraft  and  Ortho- 
doxy shaken.*'  In  1767,  he  prepared  another  edition,  en- 
larged to  four  volumes,  to  be  published  by  subscription.  In 
his  advertisement  he  describes  himself  as  a  man  "  who  has 
been  made  a  sacrifice  to  proud  bigots,  religious  rogues, 
and  psalm-singing  hypocrites :"  and  flatters  himself  that 
his  subscriber*  will  "  enable- him  to  express  his  utter  con- 
tempt, and  everlasting  abhorrence  of  thefm  all."  To  this 
#eek  wish,  ha  adds  an  assurance  that  the  "  names  of  the 
subscribers  shall  not  be  printed."  This  edition  appeared 
after  bis  death,  and  was  published  for  the  benefit  of  his 
family,  along  with  a  itew  edition  of  Milton's  Eikonoeiastes, 
and  his'  manuscript  sermons  and  papers.  * 

%  Protestant  XfapASter't  Magazine,  yol.  VL  p.  i  66.— -Prefaee  t©  the  post- 
humous edition  of  the  Iconoclastes.— for  a  specimen  of  his  abusive  temper,  and 
coarse  style,  see  his  controversy  with  Dr.  Chandler,  in  the  St.  James's  Chro- 
nicle for  September,  1765.  ' 


12  BARON. 

BARON,  or  BARON1US  (Vincent),  a  learned  father 
of  the  Romish  church,  and  a  monk  of  the  Benedictine  orr 
der,  was  born  at  Martres  in  the  diocese  of  Rieux  in  Gas- 
cony,  and  entered  into  the  order  of  the  preaching  friars 
at  Toulouse  in   1622.-    He  taught  divinity  several  years 
with  applause  in  the  convent  of  the  same  city,  and  was 
made  prior  there;  as  he  was  likewise  at  Avignon,  and  in 
the  general  novitiate  of  the  suburb  of  St.  Germain  at  Paris, 
He  was  dennitor  for  his  province  in  the  general  chapter 
held  in  1656,  in  which  he  presided  at  the  theses  dedicated 
to  pope  Alexander  VII.  which  gained  him  the  esteem  of  all 
the  city  and  his  whole  order.     He  was  present  at  the  as<- 
sembly,    in  which  the  pope  ordered   the  definitors  and 
fathers  of  the  chapter  to  be  told,  from  him,  that  he  was 
extremely  grieved  to  see  the  Christian  morality  sunk  into 
*uch  a  deplorable  .relaxation,  as  some  of  the  new  casuists 
bad  reduced  it.  to,  and  that  he  exhorted  them  to  compose 
another  system  of  it,  which  should  be  conformable  to  the 
doctrine  of  St.  Thomas.    This  was  what  engaged  father 
S&aron  to  undertake  the  works  <  which  he  wrote  upon  that 
subject.     He  was  again  chosen  provincial ;  and  afterwards 
sent  by  the  father  general  as  commissary  to  Portugal,  upon 
important  affairs,    which  he  managed  with  such  success* 
that  the  queen,  the  court,  and  all  the  monks  gave  testi- 
mony of  his  merit  by  a  public  act.     He  returned  to  Paris 
to  the  general  novitiate,  and  died  there,  Jan.  21,  1674, 
aged  seventy  years.    Besides  several  Latin  poems,  which 
he  left  as  instances  of  his  capacity  in  polite  literature,  he 
published  the  following  works:   1.  "  Theologia  Moralis," 
Paris,  1665,  in  5  vols.  8vo,.  and  again  in  1667.    2.  "  Libri 
Apologetic!  contra  Theophilum  Rainaudum,"  Paris,  1666, 
in  2  vols.  8vo.  *  3.  "  Mens  sancU  Augustini  &  Thorns  de 
Gratis  &  Libertate,"  1666,  8 vo.     4.  "  Ethica  Christiana,'? 
Paris,  16€6,  2  vols.  8vo.     5.  "  Responsio  ad  Librum  Car- 
dense,**  ibid,  in  8vo.     6.  "1,'Heresie  Convaingue/'.Paris^ 
1668,  12mo.     7.  **  Pauegyriques  des  Saints,"  ibid.  1660^ 
4to.     The  ftrst  two  volumes  of  bis  Moral  Theology  were 
prohibited.     It  relates  to  the  principal  points  in  dispute 
between  the  Dominicans  and  Jesuit*, ' 

BARONIUS  (Cjesak),  an  eminent  ecclesiastical  writer, 
and  a  cardinal  of  the  Roman  church,  was  born  at  Sora,  ai* 
episcopal  city  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  October  the  30th^ 

»  Gen.  Diet.— Merejrj» 


B  A  R  0  ft  I  U  &  iS 

1533,  of  Camillo  Baronio  and  Porcia  Phebonia,  who  edu- 
cated him  with  great  care.  He  went  through*  his  first 
studies  at  Veroli,  and  afterwards  applied  himself  to  divinity* 
and  civil  law  at  Naples.  But  the  troubles  of  that  kingdom 
obliged  his  father  to  remove  him  in  1557  to  Rome,  where 
he  finished  his  studies  in  the  law  under  Cesar  Costa,  afters 
wards  archbishop  of  Capua,  and'  put  himself  under  the 
discipline  of  St.  Philip  de  Neri,  founder  of  the  congrega-> 
tion  of  the  oratory,  who  employed  him  in  the  familiar  in* 
structions  which  his  clerks  gave  to  the  children.  After  be 
was  ordained  priest,  St.  Philip  de  Neri  sent  him,  with  some 
of  his  disciples,  in  1564,  to  establish  his  congregation  irt 
the  church  of  St.  John  the  Baptist.  He  continued  there 
till  1576,  when  he  was  sent  to  St.  Mary  in  Vallioella,  and 
in  both  houses  he  was  much  admired  for  his  pious  zeal  and 
charity.  St.  Philip  de  Neri  having,  in  1593,  laid  down  the 
office  of  superior  of  the  congregation  of  the  oratory,* 
thought  he  could  not  appoint  a  more  worthy  successor  than 
Baronius,  and  pope*  Clement  VIII.  who  knew  his  merit; 
in  compliance  with  the  desires  of  the  founder  and  his  con* 
gregation,  approved  the  choice,  and  some  time  after  made 
him  his  confessor.  The  esteem  which  that  pope  had  for 
him,  increased  as  he  had  an  opportunity  of  growing  more 
intimately  acquainted  with  him,  'and  induced  him  to  ap- 
point our  author  apostolical  prothonotary  in  1595,  and  to 
advance  him  to  the -dignity  of  cardinal,  June  5th,  1596,  to 
which  he  afterwards  added  the  post  of  library-keeper  to 
the  see  of  Rome.  Upon  the  death  of  Clement  VIII.  in 
1605,  Baronius  had  a  great  prospect  of  being  chosen  pope, 
one  and  thirty  voices  declaring  for  him;  but  the  Spaniards 
strongly  opposed  his  election  on  account  of  his  treatise, 
*'  Of  the  Monarchy  of  Sicily,"  in  which  he  argued  against 
the  claim  of  Spain -to  Sicily.  His  intense  application  to 
his  studies  weakened  his  constitution  in  such  a  manner,' 
that  towards  the  end  of  his  life  he  could  not  digest  any 
kind  of  food.  He  died  June  the  30th,  1607,  aged  sixty- 
eight  years  and  eight  months,  and  was  interred  in  the 
church  of  St.  Mary  in  Vallicella,  in  the  same  tomb  where 
his  intimate  friend  cardinal  Francesco  Maria  Taurusio  watr 
Buried  the  year  following.  Dupin  observes,  that  "  an  high 
regard  ought  to  be  paid  to  the  memory  of  Baronius,  who' 
was  a  man  of  sincere  religion,  probity,  learning,  and  ex- 
tensive reading,  and  laboured  with  success  for  the  service 
of  the  church,  and  the  clearing  up  of  ecclesiastical  ami- 


H  BABONltfS, 

quity.  But  it  were  to  be  wished  that  be  bad  been  exempt 
from  the  prejudices  which  his  education  $nd  country  in- 
spired him  with."  In  a  book  of  father  Parsons,  printed  ill 
1607,  and  entitled  "  De  sacrig  alienis  non  adeundis  quses- 
tiones  dus? ;  ad  usum  praximque  Anglis  breviter  explica- 
te," is  published  the  judgment  of  Baronius,  together  with 
that  of  cardinal  Bellarmin  and  others,  declaring  that  it  was 
absolutely  unlawful  for  the  Roman  Catholics  to  be  present 
at  the  religious  worship  of  the  Protestants  in  England. 
The  work  for  which  Baronius  was  most  celebrated*  and 
which  is  certainly  a  wonderful  monument  of  industry  arid 
research,  was  bis  "  Ecclesiastical  Annals."  He  undertook 
this  work  at  the  age  of  thirty,  and  laboured  for  thirty  years 
|n  collecting  and  digesting  the  materials  for  it,  by  reading 
over  carefully  the  ancient  monuments  of  the  church,  as 
well  in  printed  books  as  in  manuscripts,  in  the  Vatican 
library.  He  published  in  158$  the  first  volume,  which  con- 
tains the  first  century  after  the  birth  of  Christ.  The  se- 
cond, which  followed  after,  contains  two  hundred  and  five 
years.  These  two  volumes  are  dedicated  to  pope  Sixtus  V. 
The  third,  dedicated  to  king  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  compre- 
hends the  history  of  fifty-five  years  immediately  following* 
The  fourth,  dedicated  to  Clement  VIII.  contains  the  his- 
tory of  thirty-four  years,  which  end  in  the  year  3»95.  The 
fifth,  dedicated  to  the  same  pope,  as  well  as  the  following 
volumes,  extends  to  the  year  440.  The  sixth  ends  in  the 
year  519.  The  seventh  contains  seventy-three  years. 
The  eighth  extends  to  the  year  7 14.  The  ninth,  dedicated 
to  king  Henry  IV.  of  France,  CQncludes  with  the  year  842, 
The  tenth,  dedicate  to  the  empervr  Rodolphus  II.  begins 
pith  the  year  843,  and  reaches  tp  1000.  The  eleventh, 
dedicated  to  Sigismond  III.  king  of  Poland,  and  published 
in  16Q£,  continues  the  history  to  the  year  1099.  The 
twelfth,  printed  under  the  pontificate  o£  Paul  V.  in  1607, 
concludes  with  1198.  So  that  we  have,  in  these  twelve 
volumes,  the  history  of  the  twelve  first  ages  of  the  church. 
Henry  Spondanus  informs  us,  that  Baronius  had  left  me- 
moirs for  three  more  volumes,  which  were  used  by  Odorii 
cus  RayneJdu*  in  the  continuation  of  his  work.  The  first 
edition  of  Baronius' s  Annals,  begun  in  158&,  and  continued 
the  following  years,  was  printed,  at  Rome,  where  the. first 
volumes  were  reprinted  in  1593.  It  was  followed  by  seme 
Others,  with  alterations  and  additions.  The  second  edition 
was  that  of  Venice,  aiid  was  begun  &  1  #M»    The  thud  was 


B  A  ft  O  N  1  U  S-  II 

printed  at  Cologne  in  1596,  and  the  following  years.  The 
fourth  at  Antwerp  in  1597,  &c.  The  fifth  at  Mentz  in 
1601.  The  sixth  at  Cologne  in  1609.  There  were  seve- 
ral other  editions  published  afterwards,  at  Amsterdam  in 
1610,  at  Cologne  in  1624,  at  Antwerp  in  1675,  at  Venice 
in  1705,  and  at  Lucca  in  1738 — 1759,  by  far  the  best. 
Before  this,  the  best  editions,  according  to  the  abbe  Long- 
let  de  Fresnoy,  in  his  "  New  method  of  studying  History," 
were  that  of  Rome,  as  the  original,  and  that  of  Antwerp, 
and  the  most  convenient  for  study,  is  that  of  Mentz,  because 
the  authorities  of  the  ecclesiastical  writers  are  marked  in  it 
by  a  different  character  from  the  text  of  Baronius,  and  the 
impression  is  in  two  columns.  The  edition  of  Cologne  has 
the  same. advantage,  though  ill  printed. 

Baronius' s  design  in  these  Annals  was,  as  he  tells  us  him- 
self in  his  preface,  to  refute  the  Centuriators  of  Magde- 
burg,, or  rather  to  oppose  to  their  work,  which  was  written 
against  the  church  of  Rome,  another  work  of  the  same  kind 
in  defence  of  that  church.  "  It  were  to  be  wished/9  says 
Monsieur  Dupin,  "  that  he  had  contented  himself  with 
a  mere  narration  of  facts  of  ecclesiastical  history,  without 
entering  into  controversies  and  particular  interests.  How* 
ever,  it  must  be  owned  that  his  work  is  of  a  vast  extent, 
well  digested,  full  of  deep  researches,  written  with  care, 
and  as  much  exactness  as  can  be  expected  from  a  man  who 
first  undertakes  a  work  of  such  extent  and  difficulty  as  that. 
It  is  true  that  a  great  number  of  mistakes  in  chronology 
and  history  have  been  remarked  in  it ;  that  many  faets  have 
keen  discovered  not  at  all  known  to  him ;  that  he  made  use. 
ef  several  supposititious  or  doubtful  monuments;  that  he 
has  reported  a  considerable  number  of  false  facts  as  true, 
and  has  been  mistaken  in  a  variety  of  points.  But  though, 
without  endeavouring  to  exaggerate  the  number  of  his  er- 
rors with  Lucas  Holstenius,  who/  declared  that  he  was  ready 
to  shew  eight  thousand  falsities  in  Baronius* s  Annals,  it  can- 
not be  denied  that  the  number  of  tbeift  is  very  great ;  yet  it, 
must  be  acknowledged  that  bis  work  is  a  very  good  and  very 
useful  one,  and  that  he  is  justly  styled  the  father  of  church 
history.  It  must  be  remarked,  that  he  is  much  more  exact 
in  the  history  of  the  Latins  than  in  that  of  the  Greeks,  be- 
cause he  was  but  very  indifferently  skilled  in  the  Greek, 
and  was  obliged  to  make  use  of  the  assistance  of  Peter 
Morin,  Metius,  and  father  Sirmond,  with  regard  to  the  mo- 
numents which  had  not  been  translated  -into  Latin. 


.  i 


is  BARONIUa 

style  has  neither  the  purity  nor  elegance  which  were  tfr  b& 
wished  for  in  a  work  of  that  nature  *,  and  it  may  be  s*aid/ 
that  he  writes  rather  like  a  dissertator  than  an  historian ) 
however,  he  is  clear,  intelligible,  and  methodical." 
-   Cardinal  de  Laurea  drew  up  an  index  to  this  work  for  hi* 
own  private  use,  which  he  afterwards  left  to  the  public  : 
"  Index  alphabeticus  rerum  et  locorum  omnium  memora- 
bilium  ad  Annales  Cardinalis  Baronii.     Opus  posthumum 
Rev.  Cardinalis  de  Laurea"  Rome,  1694,  in  4to.     This  is 
a  posthumous  work,  for  being  put  to  the  press  during  the 
author's  life,  the  impression  was  not  finished  till  after  his 
death,  which  happened  November  the  30th,  1693.     These 
annals  were  begun  to  be  translated  into  various  languages,, 
hut  probably  owing  to  the  vast  expense,  none  of  the  trans^ 
lators  proceeded  farther  than  the  first  volume*     Several 
abridgments,   however,  have  been  published.     The  most 
extensive  is  that  of  Henry  Spondanus,  Paris,   1612,  1622, 
1630$  1639,  and  often  afterwards.    They  were  also  abridged 
by  Aurelio,  Bzovius,  Bisciola,  Scogli,  Sartorius,  Scbultin-* 
gius,  &c.  &c.  and  in  various  languages.     The  continuators 
are  also  numerous.     Bzovius  published  a  continuation  from: 
1199  to  1572,  Rome,  9  vols.  fol.  1616 — 1672,  which,  how-> 
ever,  are  rather  the  annals  of  the  Dominicans  than  of  the 
church.    Haynaldus'  continuation  from  1199  to  1567,  also 
9  vols,  folio,  is  said  to  be  worse  than  the  former ;  the  best 
is  Spondanus,  extending  to  the  year  1639,  arid  printed  at 
Paris  in  that  year,  2  vols,  folio.     The  great  fame  of  BarcM 
nius  excited  the  attention  of  many  Protestant  writers,  who' 
criticised  his  work  with  acuteness.     Among  the  best  of 
these  is  Isaac  Casaubon,  in  his  "  Exercitationes  contra  Ba^ 
roniumf"  JLondon,  1614,  folio,  but  perhaps  DuphVs  opi-» 
nion,  which  we  have  quoted,  is  sufficient  to  point  out  the 
leading  errors  of  the  work.     Besides  these  annals,  Baronius 
wrote,   1.  "  Martyrologium  Romanum  restitutum,"    1586,- 
folio.     These  notes  on  the  Roman  martyrology^  for  these 
are  all  which  Baronius  contributed,  were  intended  as  a  pre- 
lude to  his  Annals.     This  work  was  often  reprinted,  and  as 
often  corrected  by  the  author,  but  it  is  still  erroneous  it* 
many  points.     2.  "  Tractatus  de  Monarchia  Siciliae,"  Pa- 
ris, 1609,  8vo.    3-  "Paraenesis  ad  RempublicamVenetam,1* 
Rome,   1606,  4to,  written  on  occasion  of  the  interdict  of 
Venice.     4.  "  Contra  ser.  Rempublicam  Venetam  Votum,,'* 
not  published  by  Baronius,  but  containing  his  opinion  ia 
the  consistory.    5.  "  Historica  relatio  de  Legatione  Eccle- 


B  A  R  O  N  I  U  S.  17 

siae  Alexandrinae  ad  Apostolicam  sedem,*'  1598,  8vo,  re- 
specting the  re-union  of  the  church  of  Alexandria  to  the 
see  of  Rome,  which  did  not  last  long.  And  some  other 
works  of  less  reputation.  * 

BAROZZL     See  VIGNOLA. 

BARRADAS,  or  BARRADIUS  (Sebastian),  a  Jesuit 
and  eminent  Portuguese  divine,  was  born  at  Lisbon,  1542* 
After  entering  among  the  Jesuits,  he  taught  a  long  time  at 
Coimbra  and  other  places;  and,  applying  himself  to  preach- 
ing, gained  the  title  of  u  The  apostle  of  Portugal."  He 
died  April  14,  1615,  in  great  reputation  for  sanctity.  All 
his  works  were  printed  at  Cologo,  1628,  4  vols.  fol.  under 
the  title  of  "  Commentaria  in  concordiam  et  historian* 
Evangelicam."  The  most  particularly  esteemed  among 
them  is,  "  Itinerarium  filiorum  Israel  ex  jEgypto  in  terrain 
repromissionis,"  Paris,  1620,  fol.  • 

BARRAL  (Abbe  Peter),  born  at  Grenoble,  and  died 
at  Paris,  July  21,  1772,  came  early  in  life  to  that  metropo- 
lis, where  he  took  up  the  employment  of  a  schoolmaster* 
He  wrote,  in  conjunction  with  fathers  Gaubile  and  Varra, 
a  "  Dictionnaire  historique,  iitt^raire,  et  critique,  des- 
homines  c£lebres,"  1758,-6  vols.  $vo9  in  which  he  is 
said  to  have  betrayed  too  much  of  the  spirit  of  'party* 
A  French  wit  called  it  thg  Marty rology  of  Jansenism,  com- 
piled by  a  Convulsionnaire.  Notwithstanding  this,  his 
dictionary  has  some  merit,'  as  in  the  articles  of  poets,  ora- 
tors, and  literary  men,  he  writes  with  spirit,  and  generally 
gives  his  judgment  with  taste:  There  is  likewise  by  him* 
1.  An  abstract  of  the  letters  of  madame  de  S6vign£  in 
12mo,  under  the  title  of  "  Sevigniana."  2.  An  abridg- 
ment, much  esteemed,  of  the  €€  Dictionnaire  des  Antiqui- 
tes  Romanies,"  by  Pitiscus,  in  2  vols.  8vo.  3.  *'  Diction- 
naire hist,  geographique  et  moral  de  la  Bible,"  1758,  2  vols. 
8vo.  4.  "  Maximes  sur  le  devoir  des  Rois,  et  le  bon  usage 
de  leur  authority,"  Paris,  1754,  and  reprinted  twice  under 
different  titles;  and  5.  "  Memoires  historiques  et  litte- 
raires  de  l'abbe  Gouget,"  with  a  correct  list  of  his  works. 
The  abb6  Barral  was  a  man  of  erudition,  of  a  lively  conver- 
sation, and  the  style  of  his  writings  is  vigorous  and  manly, 
though  sometimes  negligent  and  incorrect.  \ 

1  Gen.  Diet.  vol.  X—  Moreri.—Dupin.— Baillet  Jugeroents,  vol.  JI.  and  VI. 
—Fabr.  Bibl.  Graec.  vol.  XII.  p.  165,  an  excellent  article  on  the  annals  and  their 
history. — Saxii  Onomasticon.— Blount's  Censura. 

*  Moreri.— Antonio  Sibl.  Hisp.  3  Biat.  Hist, 

Vol.  IV.     '  C 


18  BARRE. 

BARRE  (Frakcis  Poullain  de  la),  was  born  July 
1647,  at  Paris.  He  applied  himself  to  studying  the  Scrip* 
tures  and  councils,  and  conceived  so  great  a  contempt  for 
scholastic  divinity,  as  to  give  up  the  design  he  had  enter* 
tained  of  being  a  doctor  of  the  Sorbonne.  He  was  curate 
of  Flamingjie,  in  the  diocese  of  Laon,  168Q;  but  imbibing 
the  tenets  of  the  Protestants,  and  fearing  lest  he  should  be 
arrested  for  the  opinions  which  he  propagated  in  his  ser- 
mons and  discourses,  he  went  to  Paris,  1088,  and  after* 
wards  took  refuge  at  Geneva,  where  be  married,  1 690.  He 
at  first  taught  French  to  the  foreign  nobility  >  but  was  af- 
terwards declared  a  citizen,  and  admitted  into  one  of  the 
first  classes  of  the  college  at  Geneva,  in  which  city  he  died 
May  1723.  His  best  works  are  those  which  be  published 
in  France  before  bis  retiring  to  Geneva,  they  are,  "  Urn 
traite  de  PEgalite  des  deux  sexes,"  1673,  12 mo.  "  Trait6 
de  T  Education  des  Dames,  pour  la  conduite  de  l'esprit  dans 
les  sciences  et  dans  les.mceurs,"  12mo.  "  De  l'excellence 
des  Hommes  contre  PEgalite  des  Sexes,"  12mo.  "Rap- 
ports de  la  Langue  Latine  a  la  Fran$oise,"  1 2mo.  John 
James  de  la  Barre,  his  son,  was  author  of  "  Pensees  philo- 
sophiques  et  th£ologiques,"  1714  et  1717,  2  .vols.  $vo. 
They  are  theses. l 

BARRE  (Lewis  Francis  Joseph  de  la),  a  learned 
French  historian,  antiquary,  and  biographer,  was  born  at 
Tournay,  March  9,  1688.  His  father,  Paul  Joseph  de  la 
Barre,  an  eminent  lawyer,  sent  him  early  to  Paris,  where  he 
piade  great  proficiency  in  classical  studies,  particularly 
Greek,  which  he  not  only  studied  critically,  but  acquired 
considerable  skill  in  the  collation  of  ancient  manuscripts, 
and  the  antiquities  of  the  language.  When  Banduri  came 
to  Paris,  with  some  works  for.  the  press,  young  de  la  Barre 
was  recommended  to  him  as  an  assistant  in  transcribing 
and  comparing  manuscripts,  and  it  was  by  his  aid  that  Ban- 
duri was  enabled  to  publish  his  "  Imperium  Orientaie,"  2 
vols,  folio,  and  his  "Medals"  (see  Banduri);  for  which 
services  Banduri  prevailed  on  the  grand  duke  of  Tuscany 
to  grant  him  a  pension,  which,  was  punctually  paid  to  de  la 
Barre,  until  the  death  of  the  last  sovereign  of  the  house  of 
Medici.  As  soon  as  d£  la  Barre  was  at  leisure  from  his 
engagements  with  Banduri,  the  booksellers  employed  him 
on  a  new  edition  of  D'Acheri's  "  Spicilegium,"  which  he 

1  Diet*  HUt— Mortri  in  PoulUin. 


A  R  R  E.  19 

accordingly  undertook*  and  which  was  published  in  1 723, 
3  vols,  folio,  in  a  very  much  improved  state*  He  next  con-* 
tributed  to  the  edition  of  Moreri's  dictionary  of  1725.  In 
1727  he  was  admitted  a  member  of  the  academy  of  inscrip- 
tions and  belles  lettres*  a  choice  which  the  many  learned 
papers  he  published  in  their  memoirs  fully  justified.  In 
the  same  year  he  undertook  to  continue  the  literary  jour- 
nal of  Verdun,  which  he  did  during  his  life,  and  added 
much  to  its  character.  In  1729  he  published  a  work  very 
interesting  to  French  historians,  "  Memoires  pour  servir  sL 
1'histoire  de  France  et  de  Bourgogne."  In  1732  he  pub- 
lished new  editions  of  the  "  Secretaire  du  Cabinet,"  and 
the  "  Secretaire  du  Cour,"  2  vols.  12mo ;  improving  both 
very  essentially,  although  we  may  be  allowed  ~to  doubt 
whether  "  Letter-writing"  can  be  effectually  taught  by 
models.  In  1733  he  revised  and  corrected  an  edition  of 
M.  de  LarreyV"  L'histoire  de  France,  sous  le  regne  de 
Louis  XIV."  12mo.  In  1735  appeared  a  new  history  of 
Paris,  in  5  vols,  taken  from  that  of  father  Lobineau,  but  la 
Barre  wrote  only  the  fifth  volume.  A  very  few  months  be- 
fore his  death  he  had  projected  a  dictionary  of  Greek  and 
Roman  antiquities,  which  was  to  form  four  folio  volumes, 
and  had  executed  some  parts  of  it  with  great  care  and  ac- 
curacy, at  the  time  of  his  death,  May  23,  1738.  Hiseloge 
was  pronounced  by  M.  de  Boze. l 

BARRE  (Joseph),  a  canon  regular  of  St.  Genevieve, 
and  chancellor  of  the  university  of  Paris,  was  born  in  1692, 
and  died  at  Paris  in  1764.  He  joined  his  order  early  in 
life,  and  became  distinguished  for  his  knowledge  and  re- 
searches in  civil  and  ecclesiastical  history,  and  his  nume- 
rous works  afford  a  considerable  proof  of  his  industry. 
The  principal  are,  1,  u  Vindicise  libroruth  deutero-cano- 
nicorum  veteris  Testamenti,"  1730, 12mo,  a  very  ingenious 
attempt.  2.  "  Histoire  generale  d'Alteinagne,"  1743,  11 
vols.  4to,  a  work  of  vast  labour,  but  has  few  of  the  elegant 
and  fascinating  charms  of  modern  history,  and  is  in  many 
respects  inaccurate.  3.  "  Vie  de  marecbal  <le  Fabert," 
1752,  2  vols.  12 mo.  4.  "  Examen  des  defituts  theolo* 
giques,"  Amst.  1744,  2  vols.  12mo.  He  also  wrote  ngtes  to 
the  edition  of  Bernard  Van  Espen's  works,  1753,  4  vols, 
folio ;  and  about  the  time  of  his  death  had  made  some  pro- 

l  Merer**— Saxti  QfiooiAsticen. 
C  2 


20  B  A  R  R  E. 

gress  in  a  history  of  the  court*  Of  justice,  of  which  he  batfc 
published  a  prospectus  in  1755. l 

BARREAUX.     See  DES  BARREAUX. 
BARRELIER  (James),  was  born  at  Paris  in  1606  ;  and 
after  having  gone  through  a  course  of  study,  and  taken' 
the  degree  of  licentiate  in  medicine*  he  entered  into  the 
order*  of  Dominicans  in  1635.     His  talents  and  his  prudence 
were  so  conspicuous,  that  in  1646  he  was  elected  assistant 
to  the  genera],  with  whom  he  made  the  tour  of  France, 
Spain,  and  Italy.'    Amidst  the  avocations  of  this  post,  arid 
without  neglecting  bis  duties,  he  found  the  means  of  ap- 
plying himself  to  the  study  of  botany,  to  which  he  seemed 
to  have  a  natural  propensity*     He  collected  a  great  ffum- 
ber  of  plants  and  shells,  and  made  drawings  of  several  thatr 
had  not  been  known,  or  but  very  imperfectly  described; 
He  had  undertaken  a  general  history  of  plants,  which  ber 
intended  to  entitle  "  Hortus  Mundi,"  or  "  Orbis  Botani- 
cus,"  and  wa»  employed  on  it  with  the  uttriost  diligence, 
when  an  asthma  put  an  end  to  his  labours  in  1673,  at  the 
age  of  sixty *seven.     AIL  .that  could  be  collected  of  this- 
work  was  published  by  Ant  de  Jussieu*  with  a  life  of  the- 
author,  under  the  title  f{  Plantae  par  Galliamr  Hispaniam, 
et  Itatiam  observatae,  et  iconibus  seneis  exhibits?,"   Paris/ 
1714,  folio,  a  valuable  contribution  to  a  botanical  library, 
but  by  no  means  correct.*  '  •     ' 

BAJRRERE  (Peter);  physician  6f  Perpignait,  who 
practised  some  time  at  Cayenne,  and  died  in  1753,  was 
well  versed  both  in  the  theory  and  practice  of  his  art,  and 
had  the  reputation  of  being  ah  accurate  observer.  Hi* 
principal  works  are,  1.  u  Relation  et  essai'sur  Thistoire  de 
la  France  equinox i ale,"  with  a  catalogue  of  plants  collected 
at  Cayenne,  1748,  12mo.  2.  u  Dissertation  surlacouleur 
des  Negres,"  17#i,  4to*  3.  "Observations  sur  l'originet 
dcs  pierres  figurfies,"*'  T646;  *4to,  &c. ?      •■•••. 

BARRET  (Geohoe)-,  an  English  landscape  painter,  was 
born  about  1728,  in  the  city  ot  Dublin.  It  is  not  known* 
that  he  received  any  regular-instructions  in  painting.  He* 
began  his.  attempts  in  the  very  humble  litie  of  colouring 
prints,,  in  which  he  was  employed  by  dne  Silceek,  in  Ni- 
cholas- streftt,  Dublin.  Froit  this'  feeble  commencement 
he  rose  to  considerable  powers  as  a  landscape  painter,  by 
studying  from  the  scenes  of  nature  in  the  Dargles,  and  in 

»  Diet.  Hist.  «  Moreri.— Mangtt  Bibl,  Script.  Med- 

3  Diet.  Hist,— Halter  Bibl.  Bot. 


BARRET.  «l 

the  park  at  Powerscourt,  places  near  Dublin,  and  is  said  to 
have  received  patronage  and  encouragement  from  the  Doble 
pwner  of  Powerscourt  About  tins*  time  a  premium  wa$ 
offered  by  the  Dublin  society  for  the  best  landscape  ir* 
oil,  which  Mr.  Barret  won.  In  1762  be  visited  Loudon, 
where  he  soon  distinguished  Jbunself ;  and,  the  second  year 
after  bis  arrival,  .gained  the  premium  given  by  the  soci- 
ety for  the  encouragement  of  arts,  &c  for  the  best  land* 
scape  in  oiL  The  establishment  of  the  royal  academy  was 
iu  a  great  measure  indebted  to  tbe  efforts  of  Mr.  Barret, 
jvho  formed  the  plau,  and  became  one  of  its  members. 

He  had  two  decided  manners  of  painting,  both  with  re* 
gar,d  to  colour  and  touch ;  his  first  was  rather  heavy  in 
both,  bis  latter  much  lighter.  Scarcely  any  painter  equalled 
him  io  hi6  knowledge  or  characteristic  execution  of  tbe  de- 
tails of  nature.  His  attention  was  chiefly  directed  to  the 
jtrue  colour  of  English  scenery,  its  richness,  dewy  fresh- 
pess,  and  that  peculiar  verdure,  especially  in  the  vernal 
jpouths,  which  is  so  totally  different  from  the  colouring  of 
those  masters  who  have  formed  themselves  on  Italian  see- 
jiery  or  Italian  pictures.  This  strong  desire  sometimes 
tempted  him  to  use  colours  rich  and  beautiful  when  first; 
applied,  but  which  no  art  could  render  permanent ;  which, 
in  some  of  his. slighter  works,  prevailed  to  such  a  degree 
as  to  leave  scarcely  any  traces  of  the  original  colouring. 

The  best  pictures  in  his  first  manner  are  to  be  found  in 
the  houses  of  tbe  dukes  of  Buccleugh,  and  Portland,  &c. 
j&c.  an<l  those  of  his  latter,  in  his  great  work,  at  Mr. 
Lock's,'**  Norbury-park,  Surrey,  consisting  of  a  large  room 
painted  with  a  continued  scene  entirely  round.  The  idea 
iu  general  characterizes  the  northern  part  of  this  country; 
and  for  composition,  breadth  of  effect,  truth  of  colour,  and 
boldness  of  manner  in  the  execution,  has  not  been  equalled 
by  any  modern  painter.  He  exerted  his  powers  to-  the 
utrao&t  in  this  work,  as  he  entertained  the  warmest  sense  of 
Mr.  Lock's  great,  kindness  and  friendly  patronage?  He 
also  painted  in  water-colours,  in  which  he  excelled.    - 

As  a  man  he  was  remarkably  kkid  and  friendly,  gentle  in 
manners,  with  avast  flow  of  spirits,  even .  to  playfulness, 
and  a  strong  turn  to  wit  and  humour,  .for. the  iast  ten 
years  of  his  life,  he  was  obliged,  on  account  of  his  health, 
to  retire  to  Paddington,  near  London,  where  he  painted  (in 
conjunction  with  Mr.  Gilpin,  the  celebrated  animal-painter) 
some  of  his  best  easel-pictures.     He  died  iu  March  1734, 


2*  BARRET- 

and  was  interred  in  Paddington  church-yard,  leaving  a  wi- 
dow and  nine  children.  In  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he 
enjoyed  the  place  of  master  painter  to  Chelsea  hospital,  an 
appointment  conferred  on  him  by  Edmund  Burke,  esq. 
during  his  short  administration.  Barret  left  some  etchings 
of  his  performances,  the  best  of  which  is  a  view  in  the 
Dargles  near  Dublin.  The  plates  of  his  etchings  were, 
purchased  by  Mr.  Paul  Saridby,*  but  no  impressions  have 
been  taken  from  them. l 

BARRET,  or  BARET  (John),  a  scholar  of  Cambridge 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  who  had  travelled  various  coun- 
tries for  languages  and  learning,  is  known  now  principally 
as  the  author  of  a  triple  dictionary  in  English,  Latin, .  and 
French,  which  be  entitled  an  "  Alvearie,"  as  the  materi- 
als were  collected  by  his  pupils  in  their  daily  exercise,  like 
so  many  diligent  bees  gathering  Honey  to  their  hive. 
When  ready  for  the  press,  he  was  enabled  to  have  it  printed 
by  the  liberality  of  sir  Thomas  Smith,  and  Dr.  Nowell, 
dean  pf  St.  Paul's,  whose  assistance  he  gratefully  acknow- 
ledges, It  was  first  printed  by  Denham  in  1573,  with  a 
Latin  dedication  to  the  universal  Maecenas,  lord  Burghley, 
and  various  recommendatory  verses,  among  which  the  La- 
tin of  Cook  and  Grant,  the  celebrated  masters  of  St.  Paul's 
and  Westminster  schools,  and  the  English  of  Arthur  Gold- 
ing,  the  translator  of  Ovid's  Metamorphoses,  have  chief 
merit.  This  book  was  more  commodious  in  size  than  in 
form,  for  as  there  is  only  one  alphabet,  the  Latin  and  French 
words  are  to  be  traced  back  by  means  of  tables  at  the  end 
of  the  volume.  In  the  then  scarcity  of  dictionaries,  how* 
ever,  this  must  have  been  an  useful  help,  and  we  find  that 
a  second  and  improved  edition,  with  the  title  of  a  "  Qua- 
druple Dictionarie,"  (the  Greek,  thinly  scattered  in  the 
first  impression,  being  now  added)  came  out  after  the  de- 
cease of  the  author  in  1 580,  and  is  the  only  edition  of  which 
Ames  and  Herbert  take  any  notice,  nor  does  Ainsworth, 
who  speaks  of  it  in  the  preface  to  his  dictionary,  seem  to 
be  aware  of  a  prior  edition.  Of  Baret's  life  we  have  not 
been  able  to  discover  any  particulars.  In  the  Ashmole 
Museum  is  his  patent  by  queen  Elizabeth,  for  priqting  thia 
dictionary  for  fourteen  years.  *- 

*  Pilkinfton's  Diet.-— Edwards's  Anecdotes  of  Paiqtarj* 

*  Tanaer.r-rCburton's  Life  «f  Newell. 


BARRET.  23 

BARRET  (Stephen),  a  classical  teacher  of  consider- 
able eminence,  was  born  at  Bent,  in  the  parish  of  Kildwick. 
in  Craven,  Yorkshire,  in  17 IS,  and  was  educated  at  the 
grammar  school  of  Skipton,  where  he  distinguished  himself 
by  his  poetical  compositions  and  classical  knowledge.  From 
that  school  he  was  removed  to  a  scholarship  in  University- 
college,  Oxford,  where  he  took  his  master's  degree,  June  1, 
1744,  and  was  admitted  into  holy  orders.     Soon  after  he 
quitted  the  university,  he  wats  nominated  by  the  late  sir 
Wyndbam  Knatchbull,  bart  to  the  mastership  of  the  free 
grammar  school  of  Ashford  in  Kent,  over  which  he  pre- 
sided during  a  very  long  period,  and  advanced  the  school 
to  great  reputation.     He  was  also  rector  of  the  parishes  of 
Pirton  and  Ickleford  in  Hertfordshire.     In  1773  he  was 
appointed,  by  the  late  earl  of  Thanet,  to  the  rectory  of 
Hothfield  in  Kent,  where  he  rebuilt  the  parsonage  house, 
to  which  he  retired,  and  resigned  the  school  of  Ashford, 
to  the  endowment  of  which  he  was  a  liberal  benefactor. 
He .  married  Mary,   the  only  daughter  of  Edward  Jacob, 
esq.   of  Canterbury,  arid   by  her  had  an  only  daughter, 
Mary,  the  wife  of  Edward  Jeremiah  Curteis,  esq.  at  whose 
house,  at  Northiam  in  Sussex,  he  died  Nov.  26,   1801,  in 
his  eighty-third  year. 

Early  in  life  Mr.  Barret  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Dr. 
Johnson,  and  of  Edward  Cave,  the  founder  of  the  Gentle* 
man's  Magazine,  to  which  ho  became  a  frequent  contribu- 
tor. One  very  interesting  letter,  signed  by  his  name,  api 
pears  in  voL  XXIV.  on  a  new  method  of  modelling  the 
tenses  of  verbs,  which  he  defend?  on  the  authority  of  Varro 
and  Dr.  Clarke*  This  judicious  scheme,  and  his  elegant 
translation  of  Pope's  pastorals  into  Latin  verse,  fully  estab- 
lished Mr.  Barret's  reputation  as  a  Latin  scholar ;  and  he 
also  discovered  some  poetical  talent  in  "  War,"  a  satire, 
but  was  less  fortunate  in  his  translation  of"  Ovid's  Epistles 
into  English  verse."  This  bad  critical  essays  and  notes^ 
and  was  said  in  the  title  (1759)  to  be  "  part  of  a  poetical 
and  oratoriai  lecture,  read  in  Ashford  school,  calculated  to 
initiate  youth  in  the  first  rudiments  of  taste." l 

BARRINGTON  (John  Shutb),  firet  lord  viscount 
Barrington,  a  nobleman  of  considerable  learning,  and 
author  of  several  books,  was  the  youngest  son  of  Benjamii\ 

i  Gent  M*g,  vol  LXXL 


S*.  BAHRINGTON. 

Shute,  merchant  (youngest  son  of  Francis  Shute,  of  Up- 
ton, in  the  county  of.  Leicester,  esq.)  by  a  daughter  of  the 
Rev:  Jos.  Caryl,  author  of  the  commentary  on  Job.     He 
was  born  at  Theobalds  in  Hertfordshire,  in  1678,  and  re- 
ceived part  of  his  education  at  Utrecht,-  as  appears  from  a 
Latin  oration  which  he  delivered  at  that  university,  and 
.published  there  in  1698,  in  4to,  under  the  following  title : 
*  *  Oratio  de  ,studio  Philosophise  conjungendo  cum  studio 
Juris  Romani ;  habita  in  incly ta  Academia  Trajectina  Ka~ 
Jendis  Junii,   1698,  a  Johanne   Shute,  Anglo,   Ph.  D.  et 
L.  A.  M."     He  published  also  three  other  academical  exer- 
cises; viz.   1.  "  Exercitatio  Physica,  de  Ventis,"  Utrecht, 
1696,  4 to.     2.  "Dissertatio  Philosophica,  de  Theocratic 
morali,'\ Utrecht,  1697,     3.  "  Dissertatio  Philosophica  In- 
auguralis,  de  Theocratia  civili,"  Utrecht,  1697.     The  se- 
cond of  these  tracts  has  been  cited,  with  great  commenda» 
tion,  by  two  eminent  writers  on  the  civil  law,  Cocceius  aii£ 
Heineccius.     After  his  return  to  England,  he  applied  him- 
self to  tbe  study  of  the  law  in  the  Inner  Temple.     In  1701 
he  published,  but  without  his  name,  "  An  essay  upon  the 
interest  of  England,  in  respect  to  Protestants  dissenting 
from  the  Established  Church,"  4to.  This  was  reprinted  two 
years  after,  with  considerable  alterations  and  enlargements, 
and  with  the  title  of  "  The  interest  of  England  considered," 
&c.     Some  time  after  this  he  published  another  piece  in 
■  4to,  enticed  "  Tbe  rights  of  Protestant  Dissenters,"  in 
two  parts.     During  the  prosecution  of  his  studies  in  the 
law,  he  was  applied  to  by  queen  Anne's  whig  ministry,  at 
the  instigation  of  lord  Somers,  to  engage  the  Presbyteri- 
ans in  Scotland  to  favour  the  important  measure  then  in 
agitation,  of  an  union  of  the  two  kingdoms.     Flattei^d  at 
the  age  of  twenty- four,  by  an  application  which  shewed 
the  opinion  entertained  of  his  abilities,  and  influenced  by 
.the  greatest  lawyer  and  statesman  of  the  age,  he  readily 
sacrificed  the  opening  prospects  of  bis  profession,  and  un- 
dertook the  arduous  employment.     The  happy  execution 
of  it  was  rewarded,  in  1708,  by  the  place  of  commissioner 
of  the  customs,  from  which  he  was  removed  by  the  Tory 
administration  in  1711,  for  his  avowed  opposition  to  their 
principles  and  conduct     How  high  Mr.  Shute's  character 
«tood  in  the  estimation  even  of  those  who  differed  most 
widely  from  him  in  religious  and  political  sentiments,  ap~ 
years  from  the  testimony  borne  to  it  by  Dr.  Swift,  who 
writes  thus  to  archbishop  King,  in  a  letter  dated  London, 


BARRINGTON.  25 

Nov.  30,  1 708.     "  One  Mr.  Shute  is  named  for  secretary 
to  lord  Wharton*     He  is  a  young  man,  but  reckoned  the 
shrewdest  head  in  England,  and  the  person  in  whom  the 
Presbyterians  chiefly  confide;  and  if  money  be  necessary 
towards  the  good  work,  it  is  reckoned  he  can  command  as 
far  as  100,000/.  from  the  body  of  the  dissenters  here.     As 
to  his  principles,  he  is  a  moderate  man,  frequenting  the 
church  and  the  meeting  indifferently."     In  the  reign  of 
queen  Anne,  John  Wildman,  of  Becket,  in  the  county  of 
Berks,  esq.  adopted  him  for  his  son,  after  the  Roman  cus* 
torn,  and  settled  his  large  estate  upon  him,  though  he  was 
no.  relation,  and  said  to  have  been  but  slightly  acquainted 
with  him.     Some  years  after,  he  had  another  considerable 
estate  left  him  by  Francis  Harrington,  of  Tofts,  esq.  who 
bad  married  his  first  cousin,  and  died  without  issue.     This 
occasioned  him  to  procure  an  act  of  parliament,  pursuant 
to  the  deed  of  settlement,  to  assume  the  name  and  bear  the 
arms  of  Barring  ton.    On  the  accession  of  king  George 
be  was  chosen  member  of  parliament  for  the  town  of  Ber- 
wick-upon-Tweed.   July  5,  1717,  he  had  a  reversionary 
grant  of  the  office  of  master  of  the  rolls  in  Ireland,  which 
he  surrendered  Dec.  10,    1731.     King  George  was  also 
pleased,  by  privy  seal,  dated  at  St.  James's,  June  10,  and 
by  patent  at  Dublin,  July  1,   1720,  to  create  him  baron 
Barrington  of  Newcastle,  and  viscount  Barrington  of  Ard- 
glass.     In  1722  he  was  again  returned  to  parliament  as 
member  for  the  town  of  Berwick;  but  in  1723,  the  house 
of  commons,  taking  into  consideration  the  affair  of  the  Har~ 
burgh  lottery,  a  very  severe  and  unmerited  censure  of  ex- 
pulsion was  passed  upon  his  lordship,  as  sub r  governor  of 
the  Harburgh  company,  under  the  prince  of  Wales. 

It  is  said  that  a  vindication  of  lord  Barrington  was  pub- 
lished at  the  time*  in  a  pamphlet  which  had  the  appearance 
of  being  written  by  him,  or  at  least  of  being  published  un- 
der his  direction ;  but  as  we  have  not  been  able  to  discover 
this  pamphlet,  we,  shall  subjoin  a,  very  curious  history  of 
the  Harburgfa  company,  ana  of  his  lordship's  conduct  in 
fhat  affair,  from  a  manuscript  of  sir  Michael  Foster,  com- 
municated by  his  nephew,  Mr.  Dodson,  to  the  editor  of 
th$  Biographia  Britannica*. 

*  Since  the  abort  was  written,  we  tothe  Haitourgb  company  and  the  Har- 

b&frc  discorered  the  title  of  this  pam-  burgb  lottery,"  4to.    There  is  an  ad- 

pMet,  which  wai  printed  m  1*72*2,  bat  ▼ertiseatent  prefixed,  dated  May  1$, 

net  poWUheil  till  1T92,-  «  The  lord  1*732,  containing  a  short  apology  for 

yUcoubI  Barrington'a  case  in  relation  tfca  work's  not  baring  appeared  before. 


26 


B  A  R  RINGTON, 


"  His  late  majesty  kin£  George  I.  was  desirous  to  intra* 
duce  trade  and  manufactures  into  his  German  dominions  j 
and  the  town  of  Hamburgh  being  thought  a  proper  place 
for  that  purpose,  a  scheme  was  offered  to  him,  which  met 
with  his  approbation,  for  making  the  port  of  Harburgh  ca- 
pable of  receiving  ships  of  burden,  and  for  carrying  on  the 
intended  trade  aud  manufactures  principally  at  that  place. 
Accordingly  his  majesty,  by  charter  under  the  great  seal 
of  the  electorate,  about  Midsummer  1720,  incorporated  a 
number  of  gentlemen  and  merchants  of  London,  for  setting 
up  and  carrying  on  certain  manufactures  by  a  joint  stock 
at  Harburgh ;  and  divers  privileges  were  granted  to  the 
company,  whose  capital  was  to  be  300,000/.  and  a  charter 
for  commerce  was  promised  to  that  company.  As  soon  aa 
the  manufacture  charter  was  passed,  and  subscriptions 
taken  in  for  raising  the  stock,  shares  sold  at  an  exorbitant 
price,  ooL  being  commonly  given  for  a  share  on  which  only 
2/.  had  been  advanced,  and  I  think  that  some  shares  were 
sold  at  80/.  a-share.  So  great  was  the  madness  of  that  me* 
morable  year ! 

"  This  exorbitant  rise  upon  the  stock  put  some  gentle-, 
men  and  merchants  of  London,  who  thought  themselves  not 
enough  considered  in  the  manufacture  charter,  upon  soli- 
citing for  a  separate  charter,  for  opening  the  port  of  Har- 
burgh, and  carrying  on  the  foreign  commerce  there ;  and 
agents  on  behalf  of  the  manufacture  company,  with  others 
on -behalf  of  the  separate  charter,  followed  bis  Majesty  to 
Hanover,  each  party  for  some  time  endeavouring  to  carry 
their  respective  points ;  the  manufacture  company  to  get 
likewise  the  charter  for  commerce,  the  other  party  to  get  a 
separate  charter  for  commerce,  exclusive  of  the  manufac- 
ture company.  At  length  both  sides  agreed  to  accept  one 
charter  for  commerce  and  manufactures,  which  should  take 
in  the  members  of  the  old  company,  and  those  who  soli* 
cited  for  the  separate  commerce  charter;  and  that  the 
capital  of  the  united  company  should  be  1,500,000/,  It 
was  likewise  agreed,  that  the  members  of  the  old  company 
should,  over  and  above  the  500,000/.  already  subscribed, 


To  this  tract  is  added,  and  said  in  tbe 
title-page  to  be  printed  in  1722,  "  A 
speech  upon  the  question  that  the  pro- 
ject called  the  Harburgh  lottery  is  an 
infamous  and  fraudulent  undertaking, 
whereby  several  unwary  persons  have 
been  drawn  in  to  their  great  loss  y  and 


that  the  manner  of  carrying  it  on  has 
been  a  manifest  violation  of  the  laws  of 
this  kingdom."  .  These  two  pieces  *ra 
curious,  concur  with  the  account  by 
judge  Foster,  aud  offer  many  important 
considerations  in  lord  Harrington's  via* 
dicatiQa, 


B  A  R  KINGTON.  27 

be  entitled  to  a  certain  share  of  the  new  stock,  upon  ad- 
vancing, as  before,  2/.  upon  each  share,  and  that  the  resi- 
due of  the  stock  should  be  divided  amongst  the  new  mem- 
bers and  their  friends.  One  gentleman  in  particular  se- 
cured to  himself,  as  I  am  informed,  no  less  than  300,000/1 
to  be  disposed  of  by  him  amongst  his  friends. 

"  At  this  time  shares  were  commonly  sold  at'  20/.  a 
share;  but  before  the  end  of  the  year,  Harburgh  stock 
sunk,  as  all  other  projects  of  that  kind  did  ;  and  no  money 
having  been  paid  on  the  new  stock,  and  no  charter  for 
commerce  being  passed,  the  gentlemen  who  solicited  the 
new  charter  refused  to  be  any  farther  concerned  in  the 
affair,  since  the  opportunity  for  exorbitant  profits  was  lost; 
and  a  new  set  of  gentlemen  and  merchants,  with  the  mem- 
bers of  the  old  company,  undertook  to  carry  it  on,  and  were 
incorporated  by  charter  under  the  great  seal  of  the  elec- 
torate, for  opening  the  port  and  carrying  on  the  trade  and 
manufactures  at  Harburgh. 

"  It  was,  as  I  hare  been  informed,  part  of  the  original 
scheme,  that  the  expence  of  opening  the  port,  which  was 
computed  at  100,000/.  should  be  defrayed  by  the  profits 
of  a  lottery,  to  be  drawn  at  Harburgh.  Accordingly,  after 
the  new  charter  was  passed,  his  majesty,  by  warrant  under 
his  sign  manual  and  the  privy  seal  of  the  electorate,  em. 
powered  and  required  the  company  to  lay  before  him  a 
scheme  for  the  lottery,  which  they  did;  and  sometime 
afterwards  his  majesty,  by  a  second  warrant  under  his  sign 
manual  and  privy  seal  of  the  electorate,  signed  his  appro- 
bation of  the  scheme,  and  empowered  the  company  to  pro- 
ceed upon  it,  and  to  deliver  out  tickets  here  for  the  lottery, 
and  he  named  trustees  to  manage  and  direct  the  drawing 
at  Harburgh.  Before  the  lottery  was  opened,  lord  Bar- 
rington,  who  was  sub-governor  of  the  company,  (his  royal 
highness  the  present  prince  of  Wales  being  named  governor) 
thought  it  necessary  to  procure  a  British  charter  of  incor- 
poration, ahdmeasucfes  were  taken  for  that  purpose  with  the 
British  ministers ;  for  hitherto  every  thing  touching  the 
company  had  been  transacted  with  the  German  ministers. 

"  His  lordship,  as  I  have  reason  to  believe,  was  persuad- 
ed that  the  ministers  intended  that  the  company  should 
have  a  British  charter ;  and  things  went  so  far  in  that  way, 
that  a  draught  of  a  British  charter  was  prepared  and  laid 
before  the  attorney-general.  While  things  were  in  this 
state,  some  of  the  gentlemen  in  London  concerned  in  the 


2$  BARRINGTON. 

affair  opened  a  subscription  for  the  lottery,  lord  Harrington 
being  then  in  the  country.  This  step  they  took,  contrary 
to  his  lordsl&p's  opinion  and  advice. 

"  Within  a  few  days  after  the  subscription  for  the  lot- 
tery was  opened,  advertisements  were  published  by  some 
of  the  gentlemen  who  had  formerly  solicited  the  commerce 
charter,  and  afterwards  when  the  price  of  stock  fell,  had 
refused  to  accept  their  shares,  treating  the  affair  as  a  pub* 
lie  cheat;  and  the  matter  was  soon  brought  before  the 
house  of  commons. 

"  While  it  was  there  depending,  I  was,  in  lord  Barring- 
ton* s  absence,  consulted  by  the  gentlemen  concerned  touch- 
ing the  best  method  for  avoiding  the  storm  which  seemed 
to  be  gathering,  and  threatened  the  ruin  of  the  company* 

•My  advice  was,  that  the  company  should,  without  any  he- 
sitation, lay  their  charter,  with  the  two  warrants  for  the 
lottery,  before  the  house  ;  and  submit  their  case  upon  the 
foot  of  those  powers ;  since  it  would  appear  by  those  pow- 
ers, that  what  they  had  done  in  the  affair  was /lone  by 
virtue  of  powers  received  from  his  majesty.  But  this  adyice 
was  soon  laid  aside,  and  the  secretary  (Mr.  Ridpath)"was 
instructed  to  acquaint  the  house,  as  he  did,  that  the  com- 
pany having  acted  under  powers  received  from  his  ma- 
jesty as  elector,  in  ah  affair  concerning  his  electorate, 
they  did  not  think  themselves  at  liberty  to  lay  such  powers 
before  the  house  without  his  majesty's  permissiop.  This 
answer  exactly  suited  the  views  of  those  people  who  intend- 
ed to  r.uin  the  company,  without  seeming  to  do  a  thing 
which  reflected  dishonour  on  his  majesty.  Accordingly 
the  house  was  satisfied  with  the  answer,  so  far  as  not  to  in* 
sist  on  a  sight  of  the  charter  and  warrants ;  and  imtne- 

.  diately  came  to  a,  resolution,  that  tbp  persons  concerned 
in  tine  affair,  had  acted  therein  without  any  authority  from 
bis  majesty  ;  and  lord  Barring  ton,  who  then  served  for  Ber- 
wick upon-Tweed,  was  expelled  the  house. 
.  "  This  matter  was  made  an  occasion  for  bringing  this 
severe  censure  on  lord  Barrington ;  who  was  suspected  to 
have  formerly  taken  some  sjfeps  very  disagreeable  to  the 
reigning  minister,  sir  Robert  Walpole.  His  lordship  was 
firmly  attached  to  the  administration  during  the  time  of 
lord  Sunderland's  ministry,  and  employed  all  his  credit  and 

'  influence  with  the  dissenters,  which  was  then  very  great, 
to  keep  that  body  in  the  same,  interest :  but  upon  the  death 

of  lord  Sundjerlajid,  sir  RoJ^rt  Walpok^ :  wbo*  fox  nja/»y 


♦  / 


B  A  R  R  I  N  G  T  O  N.  2> 

years  during  lord  Sunderland's  administration,  had  opposed 
every  public  measure,  Succeeded  him,  as  prime  minister, 
and  could  not  forget  'the  part  which  lord  Barrington  had 
acted  against  him." 

In  1725  he  published  in  2  vols.  8vo,  his  "  Miscellanea 
Sacra :  or,  a  new  method  of  considering  so  much  of  the 
history  of  the  Apostles  as  is  contained  in  scripture ;  in  an 
abstract  of  their  history,  an  abstract  of  that  abstract,  and 
four  critical  essays."  In  this  work  the  noble  author  has 
traced,  with  great  care  and  judgment,  the  methods  taken 
by  the  apostles,  and  first  preachers  of  the  gospel,  for  pro- 
pagating Christianity ;  and  explained  with  great  distinct- 
ness the  several  gifts  of  the  spirit,  bywhich  they  were  en- 
abled to  discharge  that  office.  These  he  improved  into  an 
argument  for  the  truth  of  the  Christian  religion ;  which  is* 
said  to  have  staggered  the  infidelity  of  Mr.  Anthony  Col- 
lins. In  1725  he  published^  in  8vo,  "An -Essay  on  the 
several  dispensations  of  God  to  mankind,  in  the  order  in 
which  they  lie  in  tfte  Bible  ;  or,  a  short  system  of  the  re- 
ligion of  nature  and  scripture,"  &c.  He  was  also  author 
of  several  other  tracts,  of  which  the  principal  were,  1.  "  A 
Dissuasive  from  Jacobitism ;  shewing  in  general  what  the 
nation  is  to  expect  from  a  popish  king ;  and,  in  particular, 
from  the  Pretender."  The  fourth  edition  of  this  was  printed 
m  8vo,  in  1713.  2.  **  A  Letter  from  a  Layman,  in  commu- 
nion with  the  church  of  England,  though  dissenting  from 

her  in  some  points,  to  the  right  rev.  the  bishop  of  — *, 

With  a  postscript,  shewing  how  far  the  bill  to  prevent  the 
growth  of  schism  is  inconsistent  with  the  act  of  toleration, 
and  the  other  laws  of  this  realm."  The  second  edition  of 
this  was  printed  in  1714,  4to.  3.  "  The  Layman's  Letter 
to  the  bishop  of  Bangor."  The  second  edition  of  this  was 
published  in  1716, -4to;  4.  "  An  account  of  the  late  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Dissenting-ministers  at  Sal ters' -hall  \  oc- 
casioned by  the  differences  amongst  their  brethren  in  the 
country  :  with  some  thoughts  concerning  imposition  of  hu- 
man forms  for  articles  of  feith  :"  in  a  letter  to  the  rev.  Dr. 
Gale,  17 1£,  8vo,  5.  "  A  Discourse  of  natural  and  revealed 
Religion,  and  the  relation  they  bear  to  each  other,"  1732, 
Svo.  61  "Reflections  on  the  12th  query,  contained  in  a 
paper,  entitled  Reasons  offered  against  pushing  for  the' 
repeal  of  the  corporation  and  tes,t-acts,  and  on  the  animad- 
versions on  the  answer  to  it,"  It^B,  8vo.  A  iiew  edition  of 
his*  "  Miscellanea  Sacra"  was  published  in  1770,  3  vols. 


30  BARRINGTON. 

Svo,  Tinder  the  revision  of  his  son,  the  present  learned  and 
munificent  bishop  of  Durham.  Lord  Barrington  sometimes 
spoke  in  parliament,  but  appears  not  to  have  been  a  fre- 
quent speaker.  He  died  at  his  seat  at  Becket  in  Berkshire, 
after  a  short  illness,  Dec.  4,  1734,  in  the  66th  year  of  his 
age.  He  generally  attended  divine  worship  among  the  dis- 
senters, and  for  many  years  received  the  sacrament  at 
Pinner's-hall,  when  Dr.  Jeremiah  Hunt,  an  eminent  and 
learned  non-conformist  divine,  was  pastor  of  the  congrega- 
tion. He  had  formerly  been  an  attendant  on  Mr.  Thomas 
Bradbury,  but  quitted  that  gentleman  on  account  of  his 
zeal  for  imposing  unscriptural  terms  upon  the  article  of 
the  Trinity.  His  lordship  was  a  disciple  and  friend  of  Air. 
Locke,  had  a  high  value  for  the  sacred  writings,  and  was 
eminently  skilled  in  them.  As  a  writer  in  theology,  he 
contributed  much  to  the  diffusing  of  that  spirit  of  free  scrip* 
tural  criticism,  which  has  since  obtained  among  all  deno- 
minations of  Christians:  As  his  attention  was  much  turned 
to  the  study  of  divinity,  he  had  a  strong  sense  of  the  im- 
portance of  what  is  called  free  inquiry  in  matters  of  re- 
ligion. In  his  writings,  whenever  he  thought  what  he  ad- 
vanced was  doubtful,  or  that  his  arguments  were  not  strict- 
ly conclusive,  though  they  might  hare  great  weight,  be 
expressed  himself  with  a  becoming  diffidence.  He  was 
remarkable  for  the  politeness  of  his  manners,  and  the  grace- 
fulness of  his  address.  The  only  virulent  attack  we  have 
seen  against  his  lordship,  occurs  in  lord  Orford's  works, 
vol.  I.  p.  543,  which  from  its  contemptuous  and  sneering 
notice  of  the  Barrington  family,  and  especially  the  present 
worthy  prelate,  may  be  safely  left  to  its  influence  on  the 
mind  of  any  unprejudiced  reader. 

Lord  Barrington  married  Anne,  eldest  daughter  of  sir 
William  Daines,  by  whom  he  left  six  sons  and  three 
daughters.  William,  his  eldest  son,  succeeded  to  his  fa- 
ther's honours ;  was  elected,  soon  after  he  came  of  age, 
member  for  the  town  of  Berwick,  and  afterwards  for  Ply- 
mouth ;  and,  in  the  late  and  present  reigns,  passed  through^ 
the  successive  offices  of  lord  of  the  admiralty,  master  of 
the  wardrobe,  chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  treasurer  of 
the  navy,  and  secretary  at  war.  He  died  in  1793.  Francis, 
the  second,  died  young.  John,  the  third,  was  a  major- 
general  in  the  army,  commanded ,'  the  land  forces  at  the 
reduction  of  the  island  of  Guadaloupe  in  1758,  and  died 
in  1764*    Of  Daiaes  and  Samuel  some  notice  will  follow; 


BARRINGTON.  31 

Shute,  the  sixth,  is  now  bishop  of  Durham.  Of  the  three 
daughters,  who  survived  their  father,  Sarah  married  Ro- 
bert Price,  esq.  of  Foxley  in  Herefordshire ;  Anne,  Thomas 
Clarges,  esq;  only  son  of  sir  Thomas  Clarges,  bart. ;  and 
Mary  died  unmarried. ! 

BARRINGTON  (the  Hon.  Daines),  fourth  son  of  the 
preceding,  was  born  in  1727)  studied  some  time  at  Oxford, 
which  he  quitted  for  the  Temple,  aitd  after  the  usual  course 
was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  was  one  of  his  majesty's  counsel 
learned  in  the  law,  and  a  bencher  of  the  hon.  society  of  the 
Inner  Temple,  but,  although  esteemed  a  very  sound  lawyer, 
he  never  rose  to  any  distinguished  eminence  as  a  pleader.  He 
was  for  some  time  recorder  of  Bristol,  in  which  situation 
he  was  preceded  by  sir  Michael  Foster,  and  succeeded  by 
Mr.  Dunning,  afterwards  lord  Ashburton.  In  May  1751 
he  was  appointed  marshal  of  the  high  court  of  admiralty  in 
England,  which  he  resigned  in  1753,  on  being  appointed 
secretary  for  the  affairs  of  Greenwich  hospital ;  and  was 
appointed  justice  of  the  counties  of  Merioneth,  Carnarvon, 
and  Anglesey,  1757,  and  afterwards  second  justice  of  Ches- 
ter, which  he  resigned  about  1785,  retaining  only  the 
place  of  commissary-general  of  the  stores  at  Gibraltar. 
Had  it  been  his  wish,  he  might  probably  have  been  pro- 
moted to  the  English  bench,  but  possessed  of  an  ample 
income,  having  a  strong  bjas  to  the  study  of  antiquities, 
natural  history,  &c.  he  retired  from  the  practice  of  the  law, 
and  applied  his  legal  knowledge  chiefly  to  the  purposes  of 
investigating  curious  questions  of  legal  antiquity.  His  first 
publication,  which  will  always  maintain  its  rank,  and  has 
gone  through  several  editions,  was  his  "  Observations  on 
the  Statutes,"  1766,  4to.  In  the  following  year  he  pub- 
lished "  The  Naturalist's  Calendar,"  which  was  also  fa- 
vourably received.  In  1773,  desiring  to  second  the  wishes 
of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Elstob  to  give  to  the  world  the  Saxon  trans- 
lation of  Orosius,  ascribed  to  king  Alfred,  in  one  vol.  8vo, 
he  added  to  it  an  English  translation  and  notes,  which 
neither  give  the  meaning,  nor  clear  up  the  obscurities  of 
the  Latin  or  Saxon  authors,  and  therefore  induced  some 
severe  observations  from  the  periodical  critics.  His  next 
publication  was,  "  Tracts  on  the  probability  of  reaching 
.the  North  Pole,"  1775,  4to.  He  was  the  first  proposer  of 
the  memorable  voyage  to  the  north  pole,  which  was  under- 

1  Biog:.  Britanmca.-— Nichols's  Bowyer,  yoI.  VI.  whcre.thcr§  ii  ajonger  .list  of 
ferd  Barriugton'i  Tracts. 


32  BARR1NGTON. 

taken  by  captain  Phipps,  afterwards  lord  Mulgrave :  and 
on  the  event  of  it,  he  collected  a  variety  of  facts  and  specu- 
lations, to  evince  the  practicability  of  such  an  undertaking. 
His  papers  were  read  at  two  meetings  of  the  royal  society, 
and  not  being  admitted  into  their  "  Philosophical  Transac- 
tions," were  published  separately.    It  must  be  allowed  that 
the  learned  author  bestowed  much  time  and  labour  on  this 
subject,  and  accumulated  an  amazing  quantity  of  written, 
traditionary,  and  conjectural  evidence,  in  proof  of  the  pos-, 
sibility  of  circumnavigating  the  pole ;  but  when  his  testi- 
monies were  examined,  they  proved  rather  ingenious  than 
satisfactory.     In  1781  he  published  "Miscellanies  on  va- 
rious subjects,"  4to,  containing  some  of  his  papers  in  the 
Philosophical  Transactions,    and  other  miscellaneous  es- 
says composed  or  compiled  by  him,  on  various  subjects  of 
antiquity,  civil  and  natural  history,  &c.     His  contributions 
to  the  Philosophical  Transactions  and  to  the  Archaeologia 
are  numerous,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  indexes  of  these' 
works.     He  was  a  member  of  both  societies,  and  a  vice- 
president  of  that  of  the  antiquaries,  which  office  he  resigned 
in  his  latter  days  on  account  of  his  bad  state  of  health.    He 
died  after  a  lingering  illness,  at  his  chambers  in  the  King's 
Bench  walk,    Temple,    March   11,    1800,    aged  73,    and 
was  interred  in  the  vault  of  the  Temple  church.     Mr.  Bar- 
rington  was  a  man  of  amiable  chs^racter,   polite,  com- 
municative, and  liberal.  * 

BARRINGTON  (Hon.  Samuel),  brother  to  the  pre- 
ceding, and  fifth  son  of  the  first  lord  viscount  Barrington, 
was  bom  in  1729,  and  entered  very  young  into  the  service 
of  the  British  rtavy,  passing  through  the  inferior  stations 
of  midshipman  and  lieutenant  with  great  reputation.  He 
first  went  to  sea  in  the  Lark,  under  the  command  of  lord 
George  Graham,  and  in  1744,  he  was  appointed  a  lieu- 
tenant by  sir  William  Rowley,  then  commanding  a  squa- 
dron in  the  Mediterranean.  In  1746,  he  had  the  rank  of 
master  and  commander  in  the  Weazel  sloop,  in  which  he 
took  a  French  privateer  off  Flushing.  During  the  same 
year,  or  in  1747,  he  became  post-captain,  by  being  ap- 
pointed totheBellona  frigate  (formerly  a  French  privateer) 
in  which  he  took  the  Duke  de  Chartres  outward  bound 
East  India  ship,  of  800  tons,  and  of  superior  force,  after 
a  severe  engagement,  in  which  the  French  lost  many  killed 

»  Nichols's  Life  of  Bowyer,  vol.  III. 


BARRINGTON.  33 

and  wounded.  After  the  peace  of  1748,  he  had  the  com- 
mand of  the  Sea-horse,  a  twenty-gun  ship  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean, and  while  there,  was  dispatched  from  Gibraltar  to 
Tetuan,  to  negociate  the  redemption  of  some  British  cap- 
tives, in  which  he  succeeded.  He  had  afterwards  the  com- 
mand of  the  Crown  man  of  war,  on  the  Jamaica  station,  and 
was  in  commission  during  the  greater  part  of  the  peace. 
When  the  war  broke  out  again  between  Great  Britain  and 
France,  in  1756,  he  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the 
Achilles  of  60  guns.  In  1759,  he  signalized  his  courage 
in  an  engagement  witfi  the  Count  de  St.  Florentin,  French 
man  of  war,  of  equal  force  with  the  Achilles ;  she  fought 
for  two  hours,  and  had  1 1 6  men  killed  or  wounded,  all  her 
masts  shot  away,  and  it  was  with  difficulty  she  was  got  into 
port.  The  Achilles  had  twenty-five  men  killed  or  wound- 
ed. In  the  Achilles,  captain  Bar  ring  ton  was  after  this  dis- 
patched to  America,  from  whence  she  returned  about  the 
close  of  the  year  1760.  In  the  Spring  of  the  ensuing  year, 
captain  Barrington  served  undfr  admiral  Keppel,  at  the 
siege  of  Belleisle.  To  secure  a  landing  for  the  troops,  it 
became  necessary  to  attack  a  fort  and  other  works,  in'  a 
sandy  bay,  intended  to  be  the  place  of  debarkation ;  three 
ships,  one  of  which  was  the  Achilles,  were  destined  to  this 
service.  Captain  Barrington  got  first  to  his  station,  and  soon 
silenced  the  fire  from  the  fort  and  from  the  shore,  and 
cleared  the  coast  for  the  landing  the  troops,  and  although 
soon  obliged  to  re-embark,  they  were  well  covered  by  the 
Achilles,  and  other  ships.  Ten  days  after  the  troops  made 
good  their  landing,  at  a  place  where  the  mounting  the  rock 
was,  as  the  commanders  expressed  it,  barely  possible,  and 
captain  Barrington  was  sent  home  with  this  agreeable  news. 
After  the  peace  of  1763,  captain  Barrington  in  1768  com- 
manded the  Venus  frigate,  in  which  ship  the  late  duke  of 
Cumberland  was  entered  as  a  midshipman.  In  her  he  sailed 
to  the  Mediterranean,  and  as  these  voyages  are  always  in- 
tended both  for  pleasure  and  improvement,  he  visited  the 
most  celebrated  posts  in  that  sea.  Soon  after  his  return, 
the  dispute  between  Great  Britain  and  Spain,  respecting 
Falkland's  Island,  took  place,  and  on  the  fitting  out  of  the 
fleet,  captain  Barrington  was  appointed  to  the  command  of 
the  Albion,  of  74  guns,  and  soon  after  made  colonel  of 
marines.  He  found  some  little  difficulty,  from  a  scarcity 
of  seamen,  in  manning  his  ship,  and  had  recourse  to  a  hu* 
mourous  experiment  He  offered  a  bounty  for  aU  lajnp.- 
Vol.  IV.  D  A 


34  BARRINGTON. 

lighters,  and  men  of  other  trades  which  require  alertness, 
who  would  ente%;  and  soon  procured  a  crew,  but  of  such  a 
description  that  they  were,  for  some  time,  distinguished 
by  the  title  of  Barrington' s  blackguards.     He  soon,  how- 
ever, changed  their  complexion.     He  had  long  borne  the 
character  of  being  a  thorough-bred  seaman,  and  a  rigid 
disciplinarian.     His  officers  under  him  were  the  same,  and 
they  succeeded  in  making  the  Albion  one  of  the  best  dis- 
ciplined ships  in  the  royal  navy.     The  convention  between 
the  two  courts  putting  an  end  to  all  prospect  of  hostilities, 
the  Albion  was  ordered,  as  a  guardship,  to  Plymouth ;  and 
in  this  situation  captain  Barrington  commanded  her  for 
three  years,  made  himself  universally  esteemed,  and  shewed 
that  he  possessed  those  accomplishments  which  adorn  the 
officer  and  the  man.     In  the  former  capacity  he  had  so 
completely  established  his  character,  as  to  be  looked  up  to 
,as  one  who,  in  case  of  any  future  war,  would  be  intrusted 
with  some  important  command.     In  the  latter,  the  traits 
of  benevolence  which  are  known,  exclusive  of  those  which 
he  was  careful  to  keep  sebret,  shew,  that  with  the  rough- 
ness of  a  seaman,  he  possessed  the  benevolence  of  a  Chris- 
tian.  An  economical  style  of  living  enabled  him  to  indulge 
his  inclination  that  way,  with  a  moderate  income.     On  the 
breaking  out  of  the  war  with  France,  captain  Barrington, 
having  then  been  thirty-one  years  a  post-captain  in  the 
,  navy,  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  rear-admiral,  and  dis- 
patched with  a  squadron  to  the  West  Indies.     He  found 
.himself,  on  his  arrival,  so  much  inferior  to  the  enemy,  that 
he  could  not  preserve   Dominic^  from  falling  into  their 
hands.    However,  before  the  French  fleet  under  D'Estaing 
could  reach  the  West  Indies,  he  was  joined  at  Barbadoes 
by  the  troops  under  general  Grant  from  America.     He 
then  immediately  steered  for  St,  Lucia,  and  the  British 
troops  had  gained  possession  of  a  part  of  the  island,  when 
the  French  fleet,  under  the  command  of  count  D'Estaing, 
appeared  in  sight.     Barrington  lay  in  the  Grand  Cul  de 
Sac,  with  only  three  ships  of  the  line,  three  of  fifty  guns, 
and  some  frigates,  and  with  this  force,  had  not  only  to 
defend  himself  against  ten  sail  of  the  line,  many  frigates, 
and  American  armed  ships,  but  also  to  protect  a  large 
fleet  of  transports,  having  on  board  provisions  and  stores 
for  the  army,  and  which  there  had  not  yet  been  time  to 
land ;  so  that  the  fate  of  the  army  depended  on  that  of 
the  fleet.     During  the  night  the  admiral  caused  the  trans- 

■■   *■- 


BARRINGTON.  35 

ports  to  be  warped  into  the  bay,  and  moored  the  men  of 
war  in  a  line  without  them.  D'Estaintj,  elated  with  the 
hopes  of  crushing  this  small  naval  force  under  Bar  ring  ton, 
attacked  him  next  morning,  first  with  ten  sail  of  the  line, 
but  failing,  he  made  a  second  attack  with  his  whole  force, 
and  was  equally  unsuccessful,  being  only  able  to  carry  oft* 
one  single  transport,  which  the  English  had  not  time  to 
warp  within  the  line.  This  defence  is  among  the  first  na- 
val atchievements  of  the  war.  In  an  attack  by  land,  on 
general  Meadows's  intrenchments,  the  count  was  equally 
repulsed,  and  the  ^land  soon  after  capitulated.  Admiral 
Byron  shortly  after  arriving  in  the  West  Indies,  Barring- 
ton,  of  course,  became  second  in  command  only.  In  the 
action  which  took  place  between  the  British  fleet  and  the 
French  on  the  6th  of  July,  1775,  admiral  Barringtoii,  in 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  commanded  the  van  division.  The 
enemy  were  much  superior  to  the  English,  but  this  dis-. 
co very  was  not  made  till  it  was  too  late  to  remedy  it.  Ad- 
miral Barriugton,  in  the  Prince  of  Wales,  with  the  Boyrie 
and  Sultan,  pressed  forward,  soon  closed  with  the  enemy's 
fleet,  and  bravely  sustained  their  attack  until  joined  by 
other  ships.  It  was  not,  however,  the  intention  of  the 
French  admiral  to  risk  a  general  engagement,  having  the 
conquest  of  Grenada  in  view,  and  his  ships  being  cleaner 
than  those  of  the  English,  enabled  him  to  choose  his  dis- 
tance. The  consequence  was,  that  several  of  the  British 
ships  were  very  severely  handled,  whilst  others  had  no 
share  in  the  action.  Barrington  was  wounded,  and  had 
twenty-six  men  killed,  and  forty-six  wounded,  in  his  own 
ship.  Soon  after  this  engagement,  admiral  Barrington,  on 
account  of  ill-health,  returned  to  England,  These  two 
actions  established  our  admiral's  reputation,  and  he  was 
looked  on  as  one  of  the  first  officers  in  the  English  navy. 
The  ferment  of  parties  during  the  close  of  that  war  occa- 
sioned many  unexpected  refusal  of  promotion ;  and  as 
admiral  Barrington  was  intimately  connected  with  lord 
Shelburne,  col.  Barre,  and  several  other  leading  men  in 
opposition,  it  was  probably  owimg  to  this  circumstance  that 
he  refused  the  command  of  the  channel  fleet,  which  was 
offered  to  him  after  the  resignation  of  admiral  Geary  in  1,780, 
and  on  his  declining  to  accept  it,  conferred  on  admiral 
Darby.  In  1782,  he  served,  as  second  in  command,  un- 
der lord  Howe,  and  distinguished  himself  at  the  memorable 
relief  of  Gibraltar.     The  termination  of  the  war  put  a  pe- 

D  2 


35  BAR8INGTOK. 

riod  to  his  active  services.  In  February  1786,  he  w$s  made 
lieutenant-general  of  marines  ;  and  on  Sept.  24,  1787,  ad* 
miral  of  the  blue.  During  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life,  his 
ill  state  of  health  obliged  him  to  decline  all  naval  command. 
He  died  at  his  lodgings  in  the  Abbey  Green,  Bath,  August, 
16,    1800.1 

BARROS  or  De  BARROS  (John),  a  Portuguese  his- 
torian, was  born  at  Viseu  in  1496,  and  brought  up  at 
the  court  of  king  Emanuel,  with  the  younger  branches  of 
the  royal  family.  He  made  a  rapid  progress  in  Greek 
and  Latin  learning.  The  infant  Jua%  to  whom  he  was 
attached,  in  quality  of  preceptor,  having  succeeded  the 
king  his  father  in  1521,  de  Barros  had  a  place  in  the 
household  of  that  prince.  In  1522  he  became  governor 
of  St.  George  <le  la  Mine,  on  the  coast  of  Guinea  in 
Africa.  Three  years  afterwards,  the  king  having  recalled 
him  to  court,  appointed  him  treasurer  of  the  Indies :  this 
post  inspired  him  with  the  thought  of  writing  the  history 
of  those  countries,  and  in  order  to  finish  it,  he  retired  to 
Pombal,  where  he  died  in  1570,  with  the  reputation  of  an 
excellent  scholar  and  a  good  citizen.  Be  Barros  has  di- 
vided his  History  of  Asia  and  the  Indies  into  four  decads.  He 
published  the  first  under  the  title  "  Decadas  d'Asia,"  in 
1552,  the  second  in  1553,  and  the  third  in  1563.  The 
fourth  did  not  appear  till  1615,  by  command  of  king  Philip 
III.  who  purchased  the  manuscript  of  the  heirs  of  de  Barros. 
This  history  is  in  the  Portugueze  language.  Possevin  and 
the  president  de  Thou  speak  more  favourably  of  it  than  la 
Boulaye-le  Goux,  who  considers  it  as  a  very  confused 
mass ;  but  certainly  Barros  has  collected  a  great  many  facts 
that  are  not  to  be  found  elsewhere,  and  with  less  love  of 
the  hyperbole,  and  a  stricter  attachment  to  truth,  he  would 
have  deserved  a  place  among  the  best  historians.  SeVferal 
authors  have  continued  his  work,  and  brought  it  down  to 
the  xiiith  decad.  Th6re  is  an  edition  of  it,  Lisbon,  1736, 
3  vols,  folio.  Alfonso  Ulloa  translated  it  into  Spanish.  Bar- 
ros also  wrote  "  Chronica  do  imperador  Clarimando,"  a 
species  of  romance  in  the  style  of  Amadis,  and  some 
treatises  on  subjects  of  morality,  religion,  and  education, 

for  the  use  of  the  young  princes.  * 

« 

1  Annual  Register,  and  various  Journals  and  Magazines.— Beatson's  Political 
Aforeri.— Diet.  Hist— Antonio  Bibl.  Hisp.  where  is  a  list  of  his  minor  works. 


BARROW.  37 

BARROW  (Isaac),  bishop  of  St.  Asaph  in  the  reign  of 
Charles  II.  was  the  son  of  Isaac  Barrow  of  Spiney  Abbey 
in  Cambridgeshire,  and  uncle  of  the  celebrated  mathema- 
tician, who  will  form  the  subject  of  the  next  article.  He 
was  born  in  1613,  admitted  July  1620  of  Peterhouse,  Cam- 
bridge, next  year  chosen  scholar,  and  in  1 63 1 ,  librarian.  In 
Dec.  1 64 1 ,  he  was  presented  to  the  vicarage  of  Hinton,  by  his 
college,  of  which  he  was  a  fellow,  and  resided  thereuntil  eject* 
ed  by  the  presbyterians  in  1643.  He  then  removed  to  Ox- 
ford, where  his  learning  and  abilities  were  well  known,  and 
where  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  chaplains  of  New  Col- 
lege, by  the  interest  of  his  friend,  Dr.  Pink,  then  warden. 
Here  he  continued  until  the  surrender  of  Oxford  to  the 
parliamentary  army,  when  he  was  obliged  to  shift  from 
place  to  place,  and  6uffer  with  his  brethren,  who  refused  to 
submit  to  the  usurping  powers.  At  the  restoration,  how- 
ever, he  was  not  only  replaced  in  his  fellowship  at  Peter- 
house,  but  chosen  a  fellow  of  Eton  college,  which  he  held 
in  commendam  with  the  bishopric  of  Mann.  In  1660, 
being  then  D.  D.  he  was  presented  by  Dr.  Wren,  bishop  of 
Ely,  to  the  rectory  of  Downham,  in  the  Isle  of  Ely;  and, 
in  1662,  resigned  his  fellowship  of  Peterhouse.  In  July 
1663,  he  was  consecrated  bishop  of  Mann,  in  king  Henry 
Vllth's  chapel,  Westminster,  on  which  occasion  his  ne- 
phew, the  mathematician,  preached  the  consecration  ser- 
mon. In  April  1664,  he  was  appointed  governor  likewise 
of  the  Isle  of  Mann,  by  his  patron,  Charles  earl  of  Derby  ; 
and  executed  his  office  with  the  greatest  prudence  and  ho- 
nour during  all  the  time  in  which  he  held  the  diocese,  and 
for  some  months  after  his  translation  to  the  see  of  St.  Asaph. 
He  was  ever  of  a  liberal,  active  mind  ;  and  rendered  him- 
self peculiarly  conspicuous  as  a  man  of  public  spirit,  by 
forming  and  executing  good  designs  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  piety  and  literature.  The  state  of  the  diocese  of 
Mann  at  this  time  was  deplorable,  as  to  religion.  The 
clergy  were  poor,  illiterate,  and  careless,  the  people  grossly 
ignorant  and  dissolute.  Bishop  Barrow,  however,  intro- 
duced a  very  happy  change  in  all  respects,  by  the  esta- 
blishment of  schools,  and  improving  the  livings  of  the 
clergy.  He  collected  with  great  qare  and  pains  from  pious 
persons  about  eleven  hundred  pounds,  with  which  he  pur- 
chased of  the  earl  of  Derby  all  trie  impropriations  in  the 
island,  and  settled  them  upon  the  clfcrgy  in  due  proportion. 


38  BARROW. 

He  obliged  them  all  likewise  to  teach  schools  in  their  re- 
spective parishes,  and  allowed  thirty  pounds  per  annum  for 
a  free-school,  and  fifty  pounds  per  annum  for  academioal 
learning.     He  procured  also  from  king  Charles  II.  one  hun- 
dred pounds  a  year  (which,  Mr.  Wood  says,  had  like  to 
have  been  lost)  to  be  settled  upon  his  clergy,  and  g^ve  one 
hundred  and  thirty-five  pounds  of  his  own  money  for  a  lease 
upon  lands  of  twenty  pounds  a  year,  towards  the  mainten- 
ance of  three  poor  scholars  in  the  college  of  Dublin,  that 
in  time  there  might  be  a  more  learned  body  of  clergy  in 
the  island.  Hp  gave  likewise  ten  pounds  towards  the  build- 
ing a  bridge  over  a  dangerous  water ;  and  did  several  other 
acts  of  charity  and  beneficence.     Afterwards  returning  to 
England  for  the  sake  of  his  health,  and  lodging  in  a  house 
belonging  to  the  countess  of  Derby  in  Lancashire,  called 
Cross- hall,  he  received  news  of  his  majesty  having  con- 
ferred on  him  the  bishopric  of  St.  Asaph,   to  which  he  was 
translated  March  21, ,1669,  but  he  was  permitted  to  hold 
the  see  of  Sodor  and  Mann  in  commendam,  until  Oct.  167 1, 
in  order  to  indemnify  him  for  the  expences  of  his  transla- 
tion.    His  removal,    however,  from  Mann,  was  felt  as  a 
yery  great  loss,  both  by  the  clergy  at  large,  and  the  inha- 
bitants. His  venerable,  although  not  immediate,  successor, 
Dr.  Wilson,  says  of  him,  that  "  his  name  and  his  good  deeds 
will  be  remembered  as  long  as  any  sense  of  piety  remains 
among  them.''     His  removal  to  St.  Asaph  gave  him  a  fresh 
opportunity  to  become  useful  and  popular.     After  being 
established  here,  he  repaired  several  parts  of  the  cathedral 
church,  especially  the  north  and  south  ailes,  and  new  co- 
vered them  with  lead,  and  wainscotted  the  east  part  of  the 
choir.     He  laid  out  a  considerable  sum  of  money  in  repair- 
ing the  episcopal  palace,  and  a  mill  belonging  to  it.     In 
1678  hje  built  an  alms-house  for  eight  poor  widows^  and 
endowed  it  with  twelve  pounds  per  annum  for  ever.     The 
same  year,  he  procured  an  act  of  parliament  for  appropri- 
ating the  rectories  of  Llanrhaiader  and  Mochnant  in  Den- 
bighshire and  Montgomeryshire,  and  of  Skeiviog  in  the 
county  of  Flint,  for  repairs  of  the  cathedral  church  of  St. 
Asaph,  and  the  better  maintenance  of  the  choir  therein, 
and  also  for  the  uniting  several  rectories  that  were  sine- 
cures, and  the  vicarages  of  the  same  parishes,  within  the 
said  diocese.     He  designed  likewise  to  build  a  free-school, 
and  endow  it,  but  was  prevented  bydealh;  but  in  16S7, 
v  bishop  Lloyd,  who  succeeded  him  in  the  see  of  St.  Asaph, 


BARROW.  39 

recovered  of  his  executors  two  hundred  pounds,  towards  a 
free-school  at  St.  Asaph. 

Bishop  Barrow  died  at  Shrewsbury,  June  24,  1680,  and 
was  interred  in  the  cathedral  church-yard  of  St.  Asaph,  on 
the  south  side  of  the  west  door,  with  two  inscriptions,  one 
of  which  seeming  to  favour  the  popish  doctrine  of  praying 
for  the  dead,  gave  some  offence,  especially  as  it  was  said, 
we  know  not  ^n  what  authority,  that  it  was  drawn  up  by  the 
bishop  himself. l 

BARROW  (Isaac),  an  eminent  mathematician  and  di- 
vine of  the  seventeenth  century,  was  descended  from  ap 
ancient  family  of  that  name  in  Suffolk.  His  father  was 
Mr.  Thomas  Barrow,  a  reputable  citizen  of  London  and 
linen-draper  to  king  Charles  I.;  and  his  mother,  Anne, 
daughter  of  William  Buggin  of  North-Cray  in  Kent,  esq. 
whose  tender  care  he  did  not  long  experience,  she  dying 
when  he  was  about  four  years  old.  He  was  born  at  Lon- 
don in  October  1630,  and  was  placed  first  in  the  Charter- 
house school  for  two  or  three  years,  where  his  behaviour 
afforded  but  little  hopes  of  success  in  the  profession  of  a 
scholar,  for  which  his  father  designed  him,  being  quarrel- 
some, riotous,  and  negligent.  But  when  removed  to  Fel- 
stead  school  in  Essex,  his  disposition  took  a  more  happy 
turn,  and  he  quickly  made  so  great  a  progress  in  learning, 
that  his  master  appointed  him  a  kind  of  tutor  to  the  lord 
viscount  Fairfax  of  Emely  in  Ireland,  who  was  then  his 
scholar.  During  his  stay  at  Felstead,  he  was  admitted, 
December  the  15th  1643,  being  fourteen  years  bf  age, 
a  pensioner  of  Peter-house  in  Cambridge,  under  his  uncle 
Mr.  Isaac  Barrow,  then  fellow  of  that  college.  But 
when  he  was  qualified  for  the  university,  he  was  entered  a 
pensioner  in  Trinity-college,  the  5th  of  February  1645 ; 
his  uncle  having  been  ejected,  together  with  Seth  Ward, 
Peter  Gunning,  and  John  Barwick,  who  had  written 
against  the  covenant.  His  father  having  suffered  greatly 
in  his  estate  by  his  attachment  to  the  royal  cause,  our 
young  student  was  obliged  at  first  for  his  chief  support  to 
the  generosity  of  the  learned  Dr.  Hammond,  to  whose  me- 
mory he  paid  his  thanks,  in  an  excellent  epitaph  on  the 
doctor.  In  1647,  he  was  chosen  a  scholar  of  the  house  ; 
and,  though  he  always  continued  a  staunch  royalist,  and 

1  Butler's  Life  of  Bp.  Hildesley,  p.  302.— Biog.  Brit.— -Ath.  Ox.  vol,  II.— 
Life  of  Dr.  John  Barwick. — Lives  of  the  English  Bishops,  8vo.  1731,  p.  120.-— 
Walker's  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy. 


*p  BARROW. 

• 

never  would  take  the  covenant,  yet,  by  his  great  merit 
and  prudent  behaviour  he  preserved  the  esteem  and  good- 
will of  bis  superiors.  Of  this  we  have  an  instance  in  Dr. 
Hill,  master  of  the  college,  who  had  been  put  in  by  the 
parliament  in  the  room  of  Dr.  Comber,  ejected  for  ad- 
hering to  the  king.  One  day,  laying  his  hand  upon  our 
young  student's  head,  he  said,  "  Thou  art  a  good  lad, 
'tis  pity  thou  art  a  cavalier;"  and  when,  in  an  ovation  on 
the  Gunpowder-treason,  Mr.  Barrow  had  so  celebrated  the 
former  times,  as  to  reflect  much  on  the  present,  some  fel- 
lows were  provoked  to  move  for  his  expulsion ;  but  the 
master  silenced  them  with  this,  "  Barrow  is  a  better  man 
than  any  of  us."  Afterwards  when  the  engagement  was  im- 
posed, he  subscribed  it ;  but,  upon  second  thoughts,  re- 
penting of  what  he  had  done,  he  applied  himself  to  the 
commissioners,  declared  his  dissatisfaction,  and  prevailed  to 
have  his  name  razed  out  of  the  list.  He  applied  himself 
with  great  diligence  to  the  study  of  all  parts  of  literature, 
especially  natural  philosophy ;  and  though  he  was  yet  but  a 
young  scholar,  his  judgment  was  too  great  to  rest  satisfied 
with  the  shallow  and  superficial  philosophy,  then  taught 
and  received  in  the  schools.  He  applied  himself  therefore 
to  the  reading  and  considering  the  writings  of  the  lord  Ve- 
rulam,  M.  Des  Cartes,  Galileo,  &c.  who  seemed  to  offer 
something  more  solid  and  substantial.  In  1648,  Mr.  Bar- 
row took  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts.  The  year  follow- 
ing, he  was  elected  fellow  of  his  college,  merely  out  of 
regard  to  his  merit ;  for  he  had  no  friend  to  recommend 
him,  as  being  of  the  opposite  party.  And  now,  finding 
the  times  not  favourable  to  men  of  his  opinions  in  matters 
of  church  and  state,  he  turned  his  thoughts  to  the  profes- 
sion of  physic,  and  made  a  considerable  progress  in  ana- 
tomy, botany,  and  chemistry:  but  afterwards,  upon  de- 
liberation with  himself,  and  with  the  advice  of  his  uncle, 
he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  divinity,  to  which  he 
was  further  obliged  by  his  oath  on  his  admission  to  his 
fellowship.  By  reading  Scaliger  on  Eusebius,  he  per- 
ceived the  dependance  of  chronology  on  astronomy  ;  which 
put  him  upon  reading  Ptolemy's  Almagest :  and  finding 
that  book  and  all  astronomy  to  depend  on  geometry,  lie 
made  himself  master  of  Euclid's  Elements,  and  from 
thence  proceeded  to  the  other  ancient  mathematicians. 
He  made  a  short  essay  towards  acquiring  the  Arabic  lan- 
guage, but  soon  deserted  it.    With  these  severer  specu- 


BARROW.  41 

lations,  the  largeness  of  bis  mind  had  room  for  the  amuse* 
ments  of  poetry,  to  which  he  was  always  strongly  addicted. 
This  is  sufficiently. evident  from  the  many  performances  he 
has  left  us  in  that  art.  Mr.  Hill,  his  biographer,  tells  us, 
he  was  particularly  pleased  with  tljat  branch  of  it,  which 
consists  in  description,  but  greatly  disliked  the  hyperboles 
of  some  modern  poets.  As  for  our  plays,  he  was  an  enemy 
to  them,  as  a  principal  cause  of  the  debauchery  of  the 
times ;  the  other  causes  he  thought  to  be,  the  French  edu- 
cation, and  the  ill  example  of  great  persons.  For  satires, 
he  wrote  none ;  his  wit,  as  Mr.  Hill  expresses  it,  was 
"  pure  and  peaceable." 

In  1652,  he  commenced  master  of  arts,  and,  on  the  12th 
of  June  the  following  year,  was  incorporated  in  that  degree 
at  Oxford.     When  Dr.  Duport  resigned  the  chair  of  Greek 
professor,  he  recommended  his  pupil  Mr.  Barrow  to  succeed 
him ;  who  justified  his  tutor's  opinion  of  him  by  an  excellent 
performance  of  the  probation  exercise  :  but  being  looked 
upon  as  a  favourer  of  Arminianism,  the  choice  fell  upon 
another ;  and  this  disappointment,  it  is  thought,  helped  to 
determine  him  in  his  resolution  of  travelling  abroad.     In 
order  to  execute  this  design,  he  was  obliged  to  sell  his  books. 
Accordingly,  in   the  year    1655,   he   went   into  France; 
where,  at  Paris,  he  found  his  father  attending  the  English 
court,  and  out  of  his  small  means  made  him  a  seasonable 
present.     The  same   year  his  "  Euclid"  was   printed   at 
Cambridge,  which  he  had  left  behind  him  for  that  purpose. 
He  gave  his  college  an  account  of  his  journey  to  Paris  in  a 
poem,  and  some  farther  observations  in  a  letter.     After  a 
few  months,  he  went  into  Italy,  and  stayed  sometime  at 
Florence,  where  he  had  the  advantage  of  perusing  several 
books  in  the  great  duke's  library,  and  of  conversing  with 
Mr.  Fitton,  an  Englishman,  his  librarian.     Here  his  po- 
verty must  have  put  an  end  to  his  travels,  had  he  not  been 
generously  supplied  with  money  by  Mr.  James  Stock,  a 
young  merchant  of  London,  to  whom  he  afterwards  dedi- 
cated his  edition  of  Euclid's  Data.     He  was  desirous  to 
have  seen  Rome;  but  the  plague  then  raging  in  that  city, 
he  took  ship  at  Leghorn,  November  the  6th    1656,  for 
Smyrna.     In  this  voyage  they  were  attacked  by  a  corsair 
of  Algiers,  who,  perceiving  the  stout   defence   the   ship 
made,  sheered  off  and  left  her;  and  upon  this  occasion 
Mr.  Barrow  gave  a  remarkable  instance  of  his  natural  cou- 
rage and  intrepidity.     At  Smyrna,  he  made  himself  welcome 
to  Mr.  Bretton  the  consul  (upon  whose  death  he  after- 


42  BARROW. 

wards  wrote  an  elegy),  and  to  the  English  factory.  From 
thence  he  proceeded  to  Constantinople,  where  he  met 
with  a  very  friendly  reception  from  sir  Thomas  Ben  dish 
the  English  ambassador,  and  sir  Jonathan  Daws,  with  whom 
he  afterwards  kept  up  an  intimate  friendship  and  corre- 
spondence. This  voyage,  from  Leghorn  to  Constantino- 
ple, he  has  described  in  a  Latin  poem.  At  Constantino- 
ple, he  read  over  the  works  of  St.  Chrysostom,  once  bi- 
shop of  that  see,  whom  he  preferred  to  all  the  other  fathers. 
Having  stayed  in  Turkey  above  a  year,  he  returned  from 
thence  to  Venice,  where,  soon  after  they  were  landed, 
the  ship  took  fire,  and  was  consumed  with  all  the  goods. 
From  thence  he  came  home,  in  1659,  through  Germany 
and  Holland,  and  has  left  a  description  of  some  parts  of 
those  countries  in  his  poems.  Soon  after  his  return  into 
England,  the  time  being  somewhat  elapsed,  before  which 
all  fellows  of  Trinity-college  are  obliged  to  take  orders,  or 
quit  the  society,  Mr.  Barrow  was  episcopally  ordained  by 
bishop  Brownrig,  notwithstanding  the  unsettled  state  of 
the  times,  and  the  declining  condition  of  the  church  of 
England.  Upon  the  king's  restoration,  his  friends  ex- 
pected he  would  have  been  immediately  preferred  on  ac- 
counts of  his  having  suffered  and  deserved  so  much  ;  but  it 
came  to  nothing,  which  made  him  wittily  say  (which  he 
has  not  left  in  his  poems), 

Te  magis  optavit  rediturum,  Carole,  nemo, 
Et  nemo  sensit  te  rediisse  minus. 

However,  he  wrote  an  ode  upon  that  occasion,  in  which 
he  introduces  Britannia  congratulating  the  king  upon  his 
return.  In  1660,  he  was  chosen,  without  a  competitor, 
Greek  professor  of  the  university  of  Cambridge.  His  ora- 
tion, spoken  upon  that  occasion,  is  preserved  among  his 
Opuscula.  When  he  entered  upon  this  province,  he  de- 
signed to  have  read  upon  the  tragedies  of  Sophocles  :  but, 
altering  his  intention,  he  made  choice  of  Aristotle's  rheto- 
ric. These  lectures,  having  been  lent  to  a  person  who 
never  returned  them,  are  irrecoverably  lost.  The  year 
following,  which  was  1661,  he  took  the  degree  of  bachelor 
in  divinity.  July  the  16th,  1662,  he  was  elected  professor 
of  geometry  in  Gresham-college,  in  the  room  of  Mr.  Law- 
rence Rooke,  chiefly  through  the  interest  and  recommen- 
dation of  Dr.  Wilkins,  master  of  Trinity- college,  and  af- 
terwards bishop  of  Chester.  In  this  station,  he  not  only 
discharged  his  own  duty,  but  supplied,  likewise,  the  ab- 


BARROW.  43 

seace  of  Dr.  Pope  the  astronomy  professor.     Among  his 
lectures,  some  were  upon  the  projection  of  the  sphere  ; 
which  being  borrowed  and  never  returned,  are  lose :  but 
his  Latin  oration,  previous  to  his  lectures,  is  in  his  works. 
The  same  year,  1662,  he  wrote  an  epithalamium  on  the 
marriage  of  king  Charles  and  queen  Catherine,  in  Greek 
verse.     About  this  time,  Mr.  Barrow  was  offered  a  valu- 
able living,  but  the  condition  annexed  of  teaching  the  pa- 
tron's son,  made  him  refuse  it,  as  too  like  a  simoniacal 
contract.     Upon  the  20th  of  May  1663,  he  was  elected  a 
fellow  of  the  royal  society,  in  the  first  choice  made  by  the 
council  after  their  charter.     The  same  year,  Mr.  Lucas 
having  founded  a  mathematical  lecture  at  Cambridge,  Mr. 
Barrow  was  so  powerfully  recommended,  by  Dr.  Wilkins, 
to  that  gentleman's  executors  Mr.  Raworth  and  Mr.  Buck, 
that  he  was  appointed  the  first  professor  ;  and  the  better  to 
secure  the  end  of  so  noble  and  useful  a  foundation,  he 
took  care  that  himself  and  his  successors  should  be  obliged 
to  leave  yearly  to  the  university  ten  written  lectures.     We 
have  his  prefatory  oration,  spoken  in  the  public  mathe- 
matical school,  March  the  14th,    1664.    Though  his  two 
professorships  were  not  incompatible,  he  resigned  that  of 
Gresham- college,  May  the  20th,  1664.     He  had  been  in- 
vited to  take  the  charge  of  the  Cotton  library ;  but,  after 
a  short  trial,  he  declined  it,  and  resolved  to  settle  in  the 
university..  In  1669,  he  resigned  the  mathematical  chair 
to  his  very  worthy  friend  the  celebrated  Isaac  Newton, 
being  now  determined  to  exchange  the  study  of  the  ma- 
thematics for  that  of  divinity,  partly  from  a  strong  incli- 
nation for  the  latter,  and  partly  because  his  mathematical 
works  were  less  favourably^  received  than  he  thought  they 
deserved.     In   1670,   he  wrote  a  Latin   poem   upon  the 
death  of  the  duchess  of  Orleans,  an  epicedium  upon  the 
duke  of  Albemarle,  and  a  Latin  ode  upon   the  Trinity. 
He  was  only  a  fellow  of  Trinity-college,  when  he  was  col- 
lated by  his  uncle,  the  bishop  of  St.  Asaph,  to  a  small 
sinecure   in  Wales,  anc    by    Dr.   Seth  Ward,    bishop  of 
Salisbury,  to  a  prebend  in  that  cathedral ;  the  profits  of 
.both  which  he  applied  to  charitable  uses,  and  afterwards 
resigned  them,  when  he  became  master  of  his  college.     In 
the  same  year  he  was  created  doctor  in  divinity  by  man- 
date.    In    1672,  Dr.  Pearson,  master   of  Trinity-college, 
being,  upon  the  death  of  bishop  Wilkins,  removed  to  the 
bishopric   of  Chester,  Dr.  Barrow  was  appointed  by  the 


44 


BARROW. 


king  to  succeed  him ;  and  his  majesty  was  pleased  to  say 
upon  that  occasion,  "  he  had  given  it  to  the  best  scholar 
in  England."  His  patent  bears  date  February  the  13th9 
1672,  with  permission  to  marry,  which  he  caused  to  be 
erased,  as  contrary  to  the  statutes,  and  he  was  admitted 
the  27th  of  the  same  month.  He  gave  the  highest  satis- 
faction to  that  society,  whose  interest  he  constantly  and 
carefully  consulted.  In  1675,  he  was  chosen  vice-chan- 
cellor of  the  university.  This  great  and  learned  divine 
died  of  a  fever,  the  4th  of  May  1677,  and  was  buried  in 
Westminster- abbey,  where  a  monument  was  erected  to 
him  by  the  contribution  of  his  friends  *.  His  epitaph  was 
written  by  his  friend  Dr.  Maple  toft  He  left  his  manu- 
scripts to  Dr.  Tillotson  and  Mr.  Abraham  Hill,  with  perT 
mission  to  publish  what  they  should  think  proper.  He  left 
little  behind  him,  except  books5  which  were  so  well 
chosen,  that  they  sold  for  more  than  the  prime  cost. 
Though  he  could  never  be  prevailed  to  sit  for  his  picture* 
some  of  his  friends  contrived  to  have  it  taken  without  hi* 
knowledge,  whilst  they  diverted  him  with  such  discourse 
as  engaged  his  attention.  As  to  his  person,  he  was  low  of 
stature,  lean,  and  of  a  pale  complexion,  and  negligent  of 
his  drfess  to  a  fault ;  of  extraordinary  strength,  a  thin  skin, 
and  very  sensible  of  cold  ;  his  eyes  grey,  clear,  and  some- 
what short-sighted ;  his  hair  a  light  brown,  very  fine,  and 
curling.  He  was  of  a  healthy  constitution,  very  fond  of 
tobacco,  which  he  used  to  call  his  panpharmacon,  or  uni- 
versal medicine,  and  imagined  it  helped  to  compose  and 
regulate  his  thoughts.  If  he  was  guilty  of  any  intemper- 
ance, it  seemed  to  be  in  the  love  of  fruit,  which  he  thought 
very  salutary.  He  slept  little,  generally  rising  in  the 
winter  months  before  day.  His  conduct  and  behaviour 
were  truly  amiable ;  he  was  always  ready  to  assist  others, 
open  and  communicative  in  his  conversation,  in  which  he 


*  The  following  circumstances,  con- 
cerning Dr.  Barrow's  death,  are  re- 
lated by  Mr.  Roger  North,  in  his  Life 
of  Dr.  John  North.  "  The  good  Dr. 
Harrow  ended  his  days  in  Iiondon,  in  a 
prebend's  house  .that  had  a  little  stair 
to  it  out  of  the  cloisters,  which  made 
him  call  it  a  Man's  nesty  and  I  presume 
it  is  so  called  at  this  day.  The  mas- 
ter's disease  was  an  high  fever.  It  had 
been  his  custom,  contracted  when  (upon 
the  fund  of  a  travelling  fellowship)  he 
was  at  Constantioople,  in  all  his  mala- 


dies, to  enre  himself  with  opium.  And, 
being  very  ill  (probably)  augmented 
his  dose,  and  so  inflamed  his  fever,  and 
at  the  same  time  obstructed  the  crisis  : 
for  he  was  as  a  man  knocked  down,  and 
had  the  eyes  as  of  one  distracted.  Our 
doctor  (Dr.  North)  seeing  him  so,  was 
struck  with  horror;  for  he,  that  knew 
him  so  well  in  his  best  health,  could 
best  distinguish ;  and  when  be  left 
him,  he  concluded  he  should  see  him 
no  more  }  and  so  it  proved.'* 


BARROW,  45 

generally  spoke  to  the  importance,  as  well  as  truth,  of  any 
question  proposed ;  facetious  in  his  talk  upon  fit  occasions, 
and  skilful  to  accommodate  his  discourse  to  different  ca- 
pacities ;  of  indefatigable  industry  in  various  studies,  clear 
judgment  on  all  arguments,  and  steady  virtue  under  all 
difficulties;  of  a  calm  temper  in  factious  times,  and  df 
large  charity  in  mean  estate ;  he  was  easy  and  contented 
with  a  scanty  fortune,  and  with  the  same  decency  and  mo- 
deration maintained  his  character  under  the  temptations  of 
prosperity.  In  short,  he  was,  perhaps,  the  greatest  scho- 
lar of  his  times ;  and,  as  an  ingenious  writer  expresses  it, 
"  he  may  be  esteemed  as  having  shewn  a  compass  of  in- 
vention equal,  if  not  superior,  to  any  of  the  moderns,  sir 
Isaac  Newton  only  excepted." 

Dr.  Barrow's  works  are  very  numerous,  and  indeed  va- 
rious, mathematical,  theological,  poetical,  &c.  and  such  as 
do  honour  to  the  English  nation.  They  are  principally  as 
follow:  l."EuclidisElementa," Cantab.  1655, 8vo.  2."Eu- 
clidisData,"  Cantab.  1657, 8vo.  3. "  Lectiones  Opticaexviii,'* 
Lond.  1669,  4ta.  4.  "  Lectiones  Geometricse  xiii,"  Lond. 
1670,  4to.  5.  u  Archimedis  Opera,  Apollonii  Conicoruin 
libri  iv.  Theodosii  Sphericorumlib.  iii. ;  nova  methodo  il- 
lustrata,  et  succincte  demonstrata,"  Lond.  1675,  4to.  The 
following  were  published  after  his  decease,  viz.  6.  "  Lectio, 
in  qua  theoremata  Archimedis  de  sphoera  et  cylindro  per 
methodum  indivisibilium  investigate,  ac  breviter  investi- 
gate, exhibentur,"  Lond.  1678, 12mo.  7.  "  Mathematical 
Lectiones  habitae  in  scholis  publicis  academiae  Cantabri- 
giensis,  an.  1664,. 5,  6,  &c."  Lond.  1683.  8.  All  his  En- 
glish works  in  3  volumes,  Lond.  1683,  folio. — These  are 
all  theological,  and  were  published  by  Dr.  John  Tillotson. 
9.  "  Isaaci  Barrow  Opuscula,  viz.  Determinationes,  Cond- 
ones ad  Clerum,  Orationes,  Poemata,  &c.  volumen  quar- 
tum,"  Lond.  1687,  folio.  Dr.  Barrow  left  also  several  cu- 
rious papers  on  mathematical  subjects,  written  in  bis  own 
hand,  which  were  communicated  by  Mr.  Jones  to  the  au- 
thor of  "  The  Lives  of  the  Gresham  Professors,"  a  parti- 
cular account  of  which  may  be  seen  in  that  book,  in  the 
life  of  Barrow.  Several  of  his  works  have  been  translated 
into  English,  and  published ;  as  the  Elements  and  Data  of 
Euclid ;  the  Geometrical  Lectures,  the  Mathematical  Lec- 
tures. And  accounts  of  some  of  them  were  also  given  in 
several  volumes  of  the  Philos.  Trans. 


46  BARROW. 

Dr.  Barrow  must  ever  be  esteemed,  in  all  the  subjects 
which  exercised  his  pen,  a  person  of  the  clearest  percep- 
tion, the  finest  fancy,  the  soundest  judgment,  the  pro- 
foundest  thought,  and  the  closest  and  most  nervous  rea- 
soning. u  The  name  of  Dr.  Barrow  (says  the  learned  Mr. 
Granger)  will  ever  be  illustrious  for  a  strength  of  mind  and 
a  compass  of  knowledge  that  did  honour  to  his  country. 
He  was  unrivalled  in  mathematical  learning,  and  especially 
in  the  sublime  geometry ;  in  which  he  has  been  excelled 
only  by  his  successor  Newton.  The  same  genius  that 
seemed  to  be  born  only  to  bring  hidden  truths  to  light,  and 
to  rise  to  the  heights  or  descend  to  the  depths  of  science, 
would  sometimes  amuse  itself  in  the  flowery  paths  of  poe- 
try, and  He  composed  verses  both  in  Greek  and  Latin.'* 

Several  good  anecdotes  are  told  of  Barrow,  as  well  of 
his  great  integrity,  as  of  his  wit,  and  bold  intrepid  spirit 
and  strength  of  body.  His  early  attachment  to  fighting 
when  a  boy  is  some  indication  of  the  latter ;  to  which  may 
be  added  the  two  following  anecdotes :  in  his  voyage  be- 
tween Leghorn  and  Smyrna,  already  noticed,  the  ship  was. 
attacked  by  an  Algerine  pirate,  which  after  a  stout  resist- 
ance they  compelled  to  sheer  off,  Barrow  keeping  his  post 
at  the  gun  assigned  him  to  the  last.  And  when  Dr.  Pope 
in  their  conversation  asked  him,  "  Why  he  did  not  go 
down  into  the  hold,  and  leave  the  defence  of  the  ship'  to 
those,  to  whom  it  did  belong  ?"  He  replied,  "  It  con- 
cerned no  man  more  than  myself:  I  would  rather  have  lost 
my  life,  than  to  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  those  mer- 
ciless infidels.'* 

There  is  another  anecdote  told  of  him,  which  shewed 
not  only  his  intrepidity,  but  an  uncommon  goodness  of  dis- 
position, in  circumstances  where  an  ordinary  share  of  it 
would  have  been  probably  extinguished.  Being  once  on  a 
visit  at  a  gentleman's  house  in  the  country,  where  the  ne- 
cessary was  at  the  end  of  a  long  garden,  and  consequently 
at  a  great  distance  from  the  room  where  he  lodged;  as  he 
was  going  to  it  before  day,  for  he  was  a  very  early  riser,  a 
fierce  mastiff,  that  used  to  be  chained  up  all  day,  and  let 
loose  at  night  for  the  security  of  the  house,  perceiving  a 
strange  person  in  the  garden  at  that  unusual  time,  set  upon 
him  with  great  fury.  The  doctor  caught  him  by  the 
throat,  grappled  with  him,  and,  throwing  him  down,  lay 
upon  him :  once  he  had  a  mind  to  kill  him;  but  he  altered 
bis  resolution,  on  recollecting  that  this  would  be  unjust, 


BARROW.  47 

since  the  dog  did  only  his  duty,  and  he  himself  was  in 
fault  for  rambling  out  of  his  room  before  it  was  light.  At 
length  he  called  out  so  loud,  that  he  was  heard  by  some  of 
the  family,  who  came  presently  out,  and  freed  the  doctor 
and  the  dog  from  the  danger  they  both  had  been  in. 

Among  other  instances  of  his  wit  and  vivacity,  they  .re- 
late the  following  rencontre  between  him  and  the  profligate 
lord  Rochester.  These  two  meeting  <5ne  day  at  court, 
while  the  doctor  was  king's  chaplain  in  ordinary,  Roches- 
ter, thinking  to  banter  him,  with  a  flippant  air,  and  a  low 
formal  bow,  accosted  him  with,  "  Doctor,  1  am  yours  to 
my  shoe-tie  :"  Barrow  perceiving  his  drift,  returned  the 
salute,  with,  "  My  lord,  I  am  yours  to  the  ground."  Ro- 
chester, on  this,  improving  his  blow,  quickly  returned  it, 
with,  "  Doctor,  I  £m  yours  to  the  centre ;"  which  was  as 
smartly  followed  up  by  Barrow,  with,  "  My  lord,  I  am 
yours  to  the  antipodes."  Upon  which,  Rochester,  dis- 
daining to  be  foiled  by  a  musty  old  piece  of  divinity,  as  he 
used  to  call  him,  exclaimed,  "  Doctor,- 1  am  yours  to  the 
lowest  pit  of  hell ;"  upon  which  Barrow,  turning  upon  his 
heel,  with  a  sarcastic  smile,  archly  replied,  "  There,  my 
lord,  I  leave  you." 

Dr.  Barrow's  sermons  are  yet  admired  for  the  style  and 
moral  sentiment.  Yet  in  him,  says  Dr.  Blair,  one  admires 
more  the  prodigious  fecundity  of  his  invention,  and  the 
uncommon  strength  and  force  of  his  conceptions,  than  the 
felicity  of  his  execution,  or  his  talent  in  composition.  We 
see  a  genius  far  surpassing  the  common,  ^peculiar,  indeed, 
almost  to  himself;  but  that  genius  often  shooting  wild,  and 
unchastised  by  any  discipline  or  study  «of  eloquence.  His 
style  is  unequal,  incorrect,  and  redundant,  but  uncom- 
monly distinguished  for  force  and  expressiveness.  On 
every  subject,  he  multiplies  words  with  an  overflowing  co- 
piousness, but  it  is  always  a  torrent  of  strong  ideas  and 
significant  expressions  which  he  pours  forth. ! 

BARRY  (George),  D.  D.  a  clergyman  of  Scotland,  was 
born,  in  1 748,  in  the  county  of  Berwick.  He  was  educated 
in  the  university  of  Edinburgh,  and  for  a  short  time  was 
employed  as  private  tutor  to  the  sons  of  some  gentlemen 
in  Orkney,  by  whose  patronage  he  became  second  mi- 
nister of  the  royal  burgh  and  ancient  cathedral  of  Kirkwall ; 

>  l  Biog.  Brit. — Pope's.  Life  of  Seth  Ward.— Ward's  Gresham  Professors.— r 
Blair's  Lectures. — Birch's  Life  of  TJllotson,  p.  53.  105.— Granger's  Biog.  Hi** 
tory,  and  Granger's  Letters,  p.  407. 


48  BARRY 

from  whence,  about  1796,  he  was  translated  to  the  island 
and  parish  of  Shapinshay.  Here  he  discharged  the  duties 
of  the  pastoral  office  with  zeal,  and  the  approbation  of  his 
parishioners.  He  first  attracted  public  notice  by  the  statisti- 
cal account  of  his  two  parishes,  published  by  sir;,  John  Sin^ 
clair  in  that  work  ("  Statistical  Reports"),  which  has  done 
so  much  credit  to  the  talents  of  the  clergy  of  Scotland* 
Dr.  Barry  had  also  great  merit  in  the  education  of  youth, 
which  he  superintended  in  his  parish  and  its  neighbourhood 
with  the  happiest  effect.  Sensible  of  his  zeal  in  this  re- 
spect, the  society  for  propagating  Christian  knowledge  in 
Scotland,  about  the  year  1800,  chose  him  one  of  their 
members,  and  gave  him'  a  superintendence  over  their 
schools  at  Orkney.  Soon  after  the  university  of  Edinburgh 
conferred  on  him  the  degree  of  doctor  in. divinity.  For 
some  years  before  his  death,  he  was  employed  in  drawing 
tip  a  work  of  great  value  and  authenticity,  entitled  "  The 
History  of  the  Orkney  Islands ;  in  which  is  comprehended 
an  account  of  their  present  as  well  as  their  ancient  state, 
&c."  4to.  This  was  published  a  short  time  after  his  death, 
which  took  place  May  14,   1805.  * 

BARRY  (Girald),  usually  called  Giraldus  Cambren- 
sis,  or  Girald  of  Wales,  was  born  at  the  castle  of  Maina- 
per,  near  Pembroke,  in  1 146.  By  his  mother  he  was  de- 
scended from  the  princes  of  South  Wales ;  and  his  father, 
William  Barry,  was  one  of  the  chief  men  of  that  princi- 
pality. Being  a  younger  brother,  and  intended  for  the 
church,  he  was  sent  to  St.  David's,  and  educated  in  the 
family  of  the  bishop  of  that  see,  who  was  his  uncle.  He 
acknowledges  in  his  history  of  his  own  life  and  actions, 
that  in  his  early  youth  he  was  too  negligent  and  playful ; 
but  his  uncle  and  his  masters  remonstrated  with  him  so 
sharply,  that  he  became  diligent,  and  soon  excelled  his 
school-fellows.  When  about  twenty  years  of  age,  he  was 
sent  to  the  university  of  Paris,  where  he  continued  for 
three  years,  acquiring  great  fame  by  his  skill  in  rhetoric, 
and  on  his  return  he  entered  into  holy  orders,  and  ob- 
tained several  benefices  in  England  and  Wales.  Finding 
that  the  Welch  were  very  reluctant  in  paying  tithes  of 
wool  and  cheese,  he  applied  to  Richard,  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  and  was  appointed  his  legate  in  Wales  for 
rectifying  that  disorder,  and  for  other  purposes.     He  exe-» 

i  Gent.  Mag.  rol.  LX£V. 


»  A  H  a  Y.  49 

cuted  this  commission  with  great  spirit,  excommunicating 
all  without  distinction,  who  neglected  to  pay.     He  also. 
informed  against  the,  old  archdeacon  of  Brechin  for  being 
married,  and  procured  bim  to  be  deprived  of  his  arch-* 
deaconry,  which  was  bestowed  on  this  officious  legate.     In 
otherwise  discharging  the  duties  of  this   new  office,  he 
acted  with  great  vigour,  which  involved  bim  in  many  quar* 
rels ;  but,  according  to  his  own  account,  he  was  always  in 
tbe  right,  and  always  victorious.     On  bis  uncle's  death, 
be  was  elected  by  the  chapter  of  St  David's,  bishop  of 
that  see',  but  he  declined, accepting  it,  owing  to  the  infor- 
mality of  not  applyihg  to  the  king  for  his  licence,  although 
in  reality  he  knew  that  the  king,  Henry  II.  would  never 
have  confirmed  such  an  election,  and  did  in  fact  express 
his  displeasure  at  it,  in  consequence  of  which  another  per* 
son  was  chosen.     Girald,  however,  was  not  reconciled  to 
the  disappointment,  and  determined  to  get  rid  of  his  cha- 
grin by  travelling,  and  studying  for  some  time  longer  at 
Paris.     Here  he  pursued  the  civil  and  canon  law,  and  with 
his  usual  vanity  be  boasts  what  a  prodigious  fam#  he  ac-» 
quired,  especially  in  the  knowledge  of  papal  constitutions, 
or  decretals,  as  they  are  called.     In  1179,  he  was  elected 
professor  of  the  canon  law  in  the  university  of  Paris;  but 
rejected  the  honour,  expecting  more  solid  advantages  in 
his  own  country.     In   11  SO,  he  returned  home  through 
Flanders  and  England,  and  in  bis  way  stopped  at  Canter- 
bury, where  he  emphatically  describes  (what  may  be  well 
allowed  him)  the  great  luxury  of  the  monks  of  tjjat  place. 
At  length  he  got  home,  where  be  found  the  whole  country 
in  a  flame,  the  canons  and  archdeacons  of  Menevia  having 
joined  with  the  inhabitants  in  driving  out  the  bishop  of 
that  see,  the  administration  of  which  was  committed  to  our  * 
author,  by  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury.     Under  this  au~ 
thority  he  governed  the  see  of  St.  David's  for  three  or  four 
years,  and  made  wouderful  reformations  in  it.     The  abdi- 
cated bishop,  whose  name  was  Peter,  did  not  acquiesce  in 
the  conduct  of  his  clergy,  but  by  letters  suspended  and 
excommunicated  the  canons  and  archdeacons,  uncited  and 
unheard  :  and  at  length,  Girald,  not  having  power  to  re- 
dress them,  resigned  his  charge  to  tbe  archbishop,  who 
absolved  the  excommunicated.     Bishop  Peter  imputed  his, 
disgrace,  or  at  least  the  continuance  of- it,  to  Girald ;  great 
contests  arose,  and  appeals  were  made  to  Rome :  but  at 
length  they  .  were  reconciled,    and  the.  bishop  restored. 
Vol.  IV.  E 


50  BARRY, 

About  the  year  1184,  king  Henry  II.  invited  Girald  to 
court,  and  made  him  his  chaplain,  and  at  times  he  at- 
tended the  king  for  several  years,  and  was  very  useful  to 
him  in  keeping  matters  quiet  in  Wales.  Yet  though  the 
king  approved  of  his  services,  and  in  private  often  com- 
mended his  prudence  and  fidelity,  he  never  could  be 
prevailed  on  to  promote  him  to  any  ecclesiastical  bene- 
fices, on  account  of  the  relation  he  bojre  to  prince  Rhees, 
and  other  grandees  of  Wales.  In  1 185,  the  king  sent  him 
to  Ireland  with  his  son  John,  in  quality  of  secretary  and 
privy-counsellor  to  the  young  prince:  but  the  expedition! 
did  not  meet  with  success,  because  earl  John  made  use 
only  of  youthful  counsels,  and  shewed  no  favour  to  the 
old  adventurers,  who  were  men  experienced  in  the  affairs 
of  Ireland.  While  Girald  thus  employed  himself  in  Ire- 
land, the  two  bishoprics  of  Ferns  and  Leighlin  fell  va- 
cant, which  earl  John  offered  to  unite,  and  confer  on  him  ; 
but  he  rejected  the  promotion,  and  employed  himself  in 
collecting  materials  for  writing  his  Topography  and  history 
of  the  conquest  of  Ireland,  which  he  compiled  and  pub- 
lished a  few  years  after.  In  the  spring  of  the  year  1 186, 
John  Comyn,  archbishop  of  Dublin,  convened  a  synod  of 
his  clergy,  in  Christ-church  of  that  city,  at  which  Girald 
was  one  of  the  preachers/  but  by  the  account  of  it  in  his 
life,  it  appears  to  have  been  a  turbulent  assembly.  Hav- 
ing obtained  great  fame  in  Ireland,  as  he  tells  us  himself, 
between  Easter  and  Whitsuntide  1187,  he  returned  to 
Wales,  and  employed  all  his  time  in  writing  and  revising 
his  Topography,  to  which,  when  he  had  put  the  last  hand, 
he  took  a  journey  to  Oxford,  and  repeated  it  in  a  public 
audience  of  the  university ;  and  as  it  consisted  of  three 
distinctions,  he  repeated  one  every  day  of  three  succes- 
sively; and  in  order  to  captivate  the  people,  and  secure 
their  applause,  the  first  day  he  entertained  all  the  poor  of 
the  town,  the  next  day  the  doctors  and  scholars  of  fame 
and  reputation,  and  the  third  day  the  scholars  of  the 
lower  rank,  the  soldiers,  townsmen,  and  burgesses.  In 
the  year  1188,  he  accompanied  Baldwin,  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  in  a  journey  through  the  rough  and  moun- 
tainous parts  of  Wales,  in  order  to  preach  up  to  the 
people  the  necessity  of  taking  the  cross,  and  engaging 
in  an  expedition  in  defence  of  the  Holy  Land.  Here  our 
author  shews  the  vast  success  his  eloquence  met  with,  in 
persuadipg  the  greatest  part  of  the  country  to  engage  in 


BARRY.  .51 

this  adventure,  when  the  archbishop  was  able  to  do  no- 
thing.  Girald  himself  took  the  cross  at  this  time,  and  it 
afforded  him  the  opportunity  of  writing  his  "  Itinerarium 
Cambriae"  The  same' year  he  went  over  into  France, 
in  the  retinue  of  king  Henry  II,  which  he  did  by  the  ad- 
vice of  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  Ranulph  de  „ 
Glanville,  chief-justice  of  England;  but  the  king  dying 
the  year  after,  he  was  sent  back  by  Richard  I.  to  preserve 
the  peace  of  Wales,  and  was  even  joined  with  the  bishop 
of  Elyj  as  one  of  the  regents  of  the  kingdom.  After  re- 
fusing one  or  two  bishoprics,  in  hopes  to  succeed  to  St. 
David's,  which  was  his  favourite  object,  this  latter  became 
vacant  in  1198,  and  he  was  unanimously  elected  by  the 
chapter.  Yet  here  again  he  was  disappointed,  owing  to 
the  opposition  of  Hubert  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and 
was  involved  in  a  contest,  which  lasted  five  years,  during 
which  he  took  three  journies  to  Rome,  and  was  at  last 
defeated.  Soon  after  this,  he  retired  from  the  world,  and 
spent  the  last  seventeen  years  of  his  life  in  study,  com- 
posing many  of  his  writings.  He  was  unquestionably  a 
man  of  genius  and  learning,  but  as  a  historian,  full  of 
credulity  and  fable  ;  and  as  a  man,  one  of  the  most  vain 
upon  record.  Ware,  and  the  editor  of  the  Biog.  Britan- 
nica,  havu  given  a  long  list  of  hh  manuscript  works,  which 
are  in  the  Cotton  and  Harleian  libraries  in  the  British 
museum,  the  archbishop's  library  at  Lambeth,  the 
Bodleian,  Oxford,  and  the  public  library  and  Bene't  col- 
lege library,  Cambridge.  Those  printed  are:  1.  "  To- 
pographia  Hibernioe,"  Francfort,  1602,  and  in  Holin-  - 
•shed.  2.  "  Historia  Vaticinalis,  de  expugnatione  Hi- 
bernian" Francfort,  1602,  both  published  by  Camden. 
3.  "  Itinerarium  Cambriae,"  published  with  annotations 
by  David  Powel,  1585,  8vo.  4.  "  De  laudibus  Cam- 
bronim,"  also  published  by  Powel.  5.  "  Gemma  Ec- 
clesiastica,"  Mentz,  1549,  under  the  title  of  "  Gem- 
ma animae,"  without  the  author's  name.  6.  u  Liber  se- 
cundus  de  descriptione  WallieeV*—  published  by  Wharton, 
in  An glia  Sacra,  part  II.  p,  447.  Camden  every  where 
quotes  Girald  us  as  an  author  of  undoubted  credit  and 
reputation. 

In  1806,  sir*  Richard  Colt  Hoare,  bart.  published  in  two 
splendid  quarto  volumes,  "  The  Itinerary  of  archbishop 
Baldwin  through  Wales,  A.  D.  1.188,  by  Giraldus  de 
Barri;  translated  into  English,  and  illustrated  with  views, 

£  2 


£2  BARRY. 

annotations,  and  a  life  of  Giraldus."  In  this  life,  an  ele- 
gant and  elaborate  composition,  although  the  facts  are  not 
materially  different  from  the  preceding,  yet  the  colouring 
is  pore  highly  favourable,  and  we  refer  with  pleasure  to 
it  as  a  memoir  in  which  the  curiosity  of  the  aptiquary 
will  be  amply  gratified.  Sir  Richard  thus  briefly  sums 
up  the  character  of  Girald :  "  Noble  in  his  birtb,  and 
comely  in  his  person ;  mild  in  his  manners,  and  affable 
in  bis  conversation ;  zealous,  active,  and  undaunted  in 
.maintaining  the  rights  and  dignities  of  his  church  ;  moral 
in  his  character,  and  orthodox  in  his  principles;  charitable 
and  disinterested,  though  ambitious ;  learned,  though  su- 
perstitious. Such  was  Giraldus.  And  in  whatever  point 
of  view  we  examine  the  character  of  this  extraordinary 
man,  whether  as  a  scholar,  a  patriot,  or  a  divine,  we  may 
justly  consider  him  as  one  of  the  brightest  luminaries  that 
adorned  the  annals  of  the  twelfth  century."  l 

BARRY  (James),  lord  Santry,  descended  from  a  Welch 
family,  was  the  son  of  a  merchant  in  Dublin,  and  edu- 
cated in  the  profession  of  the  law.  When  admitted  at  the 
bar,  he  practised  for  some  years  with  great  reputation  and 
success.  In  1629,  the  king  conferred  upon  him  the  office 
of  his  majesty's  serjeant  at  law,  for  the  kingdom  of  Ireland* 
at  a  yearly  fee  of  twenty  pounds  ten  shillings  sterling,  and 
in  as  full  a  manner  as  the  same  office  was  granted  before 
to  sir  John  Brereton,  knt. ;  and  lord  Wentworth,  after- 
wards earl  of  Strafford  and  lord  deputy  of  Ireland,  soon 
discovered  his  abilities,  took  him  under  his  protection, 
and  laid  hold  of  the  first  opportunity  he  had  to  promote 
him.  Accordingly,  on  the  5th  of  August  1634,  he  ob- 
tained a  grant  of  the  office  of  second  baron  of  the  ex- 
chequer of  Ireland,  to  hold  during  pleasure,  with  such 
fees,  rewards,  and  profits,  as  sir  Robert  Oglethorpe,  sir 
Lawrence  Parsons*  sir  Gerard  Lowther,  or  any  other  se- 
cond baron,  did  or  ought  to  receive ;  and  he  soon  after 
received  the  honour  of  knighthood.  He  obtained  this  fa- 
vour, notwithstanding  a  powerful  recommendation  from 
England  in  behalf  of  another  ;  and  it  was.  merely  the  fruit 
of  the  lord  Wentworth's  friendship,  of  which  he  had  oc- 
casion, soon  after,  of  making  a  public  acknowledgement. 
After  the  year  1640,  when  the  parliament  of  Ireland  were 

1  Leiand.— Tanner  and  Bale.-^Biog.  Brit— Henry's  Hist,  of  Great  Britain, 
9«1.  VI.— Nicolion'*  Historical  Library.— Cave,  vol.  II.— fcaxii  Onooaasticon* 


B  A  R  R  r.  M 

about  to  send  over  a  committee  of  their  body  to  England, 
to  impeach  the  earl  of  Strafford,  he  joined  all  his  weight 
and  interest  with  sir  James  Ware,  and  other  members  of 
the  house  of  commons,  to  oppose  those  measures;  though 
the  torrent  was  so  violent,  that  it  was  fruitless,  nor  do  we 
hear  much  of  our  baron  during  the  long  course  of  the  re-* 
bellion,  till  a  little  before  the  restoration  of  king  Charles  H+ 
in  the  year  1660,  when  he  was  appointed  chairman  of  the 
convention,  which  voted  his  majesty's  restoration  without 
any -previous  conditions,  in  which  resolution,  no  doubt,,  he 
was  instrumental,  since  we  find  His  majesty  took  his  merit 
into  consideration  a  very  short  time  after.  For  on  the 
17th  of  November  that  year,  the  king  issued  a  privy  seal 
for  advancing  him  .to  the  office  of  chief-justice  in  the  king's 
bench  in  Ireland,  and  another  on  the  18th  of  December 
following,  in  consideration  of  his  eminent  fidelity  and 
zeal  shewn  in  his  majesty's  service,  for  creating  him  lord 
baron  of  Santry,  in  the  kingdom  of  Ireland,  to  him  and  the 
heirs  male  of  his  body ';  and  he  was  soon  after  called  to 
the  privy  council.  He  died  in  March  1672,  and  was  bu- 
ried in  Christ  church,  Dublin.  His  only  publication  wasj 
"  The  case  of  Tenures  upon  the. commission  of  defective 
titles,  argued  by  all  the  judges  of  Ireland,  with  the  reso* 
lution,  and  reasons  of  their  resolution,"  Dublin,  1637, 
fol. ;  and  1725,  12njio,  dedicated  to  his  patron,  lord 
Strafford.  * 

BARRY  (James),  an  English  artist  of  considerable 
fame,  was  the  eldest  son  of  John  Barry  and  Julian  Roerv 
den,  and  was  born  in  Cork,  Oct  11,  1741.  His  father 
was  a  builder,  and  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life  a  coasting 
trader  between  England  and  Ireland.  James  was  at  first 
destined  to  this  last  business,  but  as  he  disliked  it,  his 
father  suffered  bim  to  pursue  his  inclination,  which  led 
him  to  drawing  and  reading.  His  early  education  he  re* 
ceived  in  the  schools  at  Cork,  where  he  betrayed  some 
symptoms  of  that  peculiar  frame  of  mind  which  became 
more  conspicuous  in  his  maturer  years.  His  studies  were 
desultory,  directed  by  no  regular  plan,  yet  he  aqcumu*- 
lated  a  considerable  stock  of  knowledge.  As  his  mother 
was  a  zealous  Roman  Catholic,  he  fell  into  the  company 
of  some  priests,  who  recommended  the  study  of  polemical 
divinity,  and  probably  all  of  one  class,  for  this  ended  in 
bis  becoming  a  staunch  Roman  Catholic. 

i 

1  Biof.  Brit. 


54  BARRY.  •  - 

Although  the  rude  beginnings  of  his  art  cannot  be  traCecl, 
there  is  reason  to  think  that  at  the  age  of  seventeen  he 
bad  attempted  oil-painting,  and  between  the  ages  of  se- 
venteen and  twenty-two  he  executed  a  picture,  the  subject 
"  St.  Patrick  landing  on  the  sea-coast  of  Cashell,"  which 
he  exhibited  in   Dublin.     This  procured  htm  some  repu- 
tation,   and,    what  was   afterwards  of  much  importance, 
the  acquaintance  of  the  illustrious  Edmund  Burke.    During 
his  stay  in  Dublin,  he  probably  continued  to  cultivate  his 
art,  but  no  particular  work  can  now  be  discovered.     After 
a,  residence  of  seven  or  eight  months  in  Dublin,  an  oppor- 
tunity offered  of  accompanying  some  part  of  Mr.  Burke's 
family  to  London,  which  he  eagerly  embraced.     This  took 
place  in  1764,  and  on  his  arrival,  Mr.  Burke  recommended 
nim  to  his  friends,  and  procured  for  him  his  first  employ- 
ment, that  of  copying  in  oil  drawings  by  the  Athenian  - 
Stuart.      In   1765,  Mr.  Burke  and  his  other  friends  fur- 
nished  him  with  the  means  of  visiting  Italy,  where  he 
surveyed  the  noble  monuments  of  art  then  in  that  country, 
with  the  eye  of  an  acute,  and  often  very  just  critic,  but 
where,  at  the  same  time,  his  residence  was  rendered  un- 
comfortable by  those  utohappy   irregularities  of  temper, 
which,  more  or  less,  obscured  all  his  prospects  in  life. 

After  an  absence  of  five  years,  mostly  spent  at  Rome, 
he  arrived  in  England  in  1771,  and  claimed  the  admira- 
tion of  the  public,  not  unsuccessfully,  by  his  "  Venus" 
•and  his  "  Jupiter  and  Juno,"  the  former  one  of  his  best 
pictures.  In  his  "  Death  of  Wolfe,"  he  failed,  princi- 
pally from  his  introducing  naked  figures,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  yield,  somewhat  reluctantly,  to  the  more  po- 
pular picture  of  Mr.  West.  This  "  Death  of  Wolfe,"  which 
he  painted  in  1776,  was  the  last  he  exhibited  at  the  royal 
academy.  About  1774,  he  conceived  an  aversion  to  por- 
trait-painting, from  a  dread  of  being  confined  to  the 
modern  costume  of  dress,  which  certainly  at  that  time  was 
far  less  graceful,  and  less  correspondent  with  the  human 
figure,  than  at  present.  It  is  well  known,  however,  that 
he  violated  his  own  principles  in  some  of  the  figures  in- 
troduced in  his  great  work  in  the  society's  rooms  in  the 
Adelphi,  when  he  was  under  no  kind 'of  constraint;  but 
this  difference  between  theory  and  practice  was  in  many 
instances  remarkable  in  Barry. 

When  a  design  was  formed  of  decorating  St.  Paul's  ca» 
^thedral  with  the  works  of  our  most  eminent  painters  and 


BARRY.  55 

sculptors,  Barry  was  to  have  been  employed,  and  his  sub- 
ject was  "  The  Jews  rejecting  Christ,  when  Pilate  entreats 
his  release,"  but  the  scheme  was  discouraged,  and  its 
probable  success  can  now  be  only  a  subject  of  speculation. 
In  1775,  he  appeared  as  an  author,  in  a  publication  en- 
titled, an  "  Inquiry  into  the  real  and  imaginary  obstruc- 
tions to  the  acquisition  of  the  arts  in  England,"  in  answer 
to  Winckleman.  In  this  treatise  there  are  some  fanciful 
opinions,  but  upon  the  whole  it  is  the  best  and  most  dis- 
passionate of  all  the  productions  of  his  pen,  and  a  masterly 
defence  of  the  capabilities  of  English  artists  under  proper 
encouragement;  and  it  contains  many  just  remarks  on 
that  state  of  public  taste  which  is  favourable  to  the  per- 
fection of  the  art.  The  same  train  of  ideas  has  been  since 
pursued  by  Mr.  Shee,  in  his  poetical  works;  an  artist, 
whose  productions  of  the  pencil,  great  and  superior  as 
they  are,  suggest  a  doubt  whether  if  he  bad  been  a  writer, 
and  only  a  writer,  he  would  not  have  been  the  first  man  of 
his  age,  in  the  philosophy  of  the  art,  in  exquisite  fancy 
and  taste,  and  that  variety  of  imagery  and  illustration 
which  belongs  only  to  poets  of  the  higher  class. 

After  the  scheme  of  decorating*  St.  Paul's  had  been  given 
up,  it  was  proposed  to  employ  the  same  artists  in  deco- 
rating the  great  room  in  the  Adelphi,  belonging  to  the 
society  of  arts,  but  this  was  refused  by  the  artists  them- 
selves, probably  because  they  were  to  be  remunerated  in 
equal  shares,  by  an  exhibition  of  the  pictures.  We  can- 
not much  wonder  at  their  declining  a  scheme,  which  pro- 
mised to  reduce  them  to  this  kind  of  level,  and  would 
indeed  imply  an  equality  in  every  other  respect.  Three 
years  afterwards,  -however,  in  1777,  Mr.  Barry  undertook 
the  whole,  and  his  offer  was  accepted.  It  would  have 
been  singular,  indeed,  if  such  an  offer  had  been  rejected, 
as  his  labour  was  to  be  gratuitous.  He  has  been  heard  to 
say,  that  at  the  time  of  his  undertaking  this  work,  he  had 
only  sixteen  shillings  in  his  pocket ;  and  that  in  the  pro- 
secution of  bis  labour,  he  was  often  after  painting  all  day 
obliged  to  sketch  or  engrave  at  night  some  design  for  the 
prim-sellers,  which  was  to  supply  him  with  the  means  of 
his  frugal  subsistence.  He  has  recorded  some  of  his  prints 
as  done  at  this  time,  such  as  his  Job,  dedicated  to  Mr. 
Burke ;  birth  of  Venus ;  Polemon ;  head  of  lord  Chat* 
bam ;  king  Lear,  &c. 


56  BARRY. 

Of  his  terms  with  the  society,  we  know  only  that  the 
choice  of  subjects  was  .allowed  him,  and  the  society  was 
to  defray  the  expence  of  canvas,  colours,  and  models. 
In  the  course  of  his  labours,  however,  he  found  that  he 
bad  been  somewhat  too  disinterested,  and  wrote  a  letter  to 
sir  George  Saville,  soliciting  such  a  subscription  among 
the  friends  of  the  society  as  might  amount  to  100/.  a  year. 
He  computed  that  he  should  finish  the  whole  in  two  years, 
and  pay  back  the  200/.  to  the  subscribers  by  means  of  an 
exhibition ;  but  he  very  candidly  added,  that  if  the  ex- 
hibition should  produce  nothing,  the  subscribers  would 
lose  their  money.  This  subscription  did  not  take  effect* 
and  the  work  employed  him  seven  years ;  at  the  end  of 
which,  the  society  granted  him  two  exhibitions,  and  at 
different  periods  voted  him  fifty  guineas,  their  gold  medal, 
and  again  200  guineas,  and  a  seat  among  them.  Of  this 
£reat  undertaking,  a  series  of  six  pictures,  representing 
the  progress  of  society,  and  civilization  among  mankind, 
it  has  been  said  "  that  it  surpasses  any  work  which  has 
been  executed  within  these  two  centuries,  and  considering 
the  difficulties  with  which  the  artist  had  to  struggle,  any 
that  is  now  extant."  As  the  production  of  one  man,  it  is 
undoubtedly  entitled  to  high  praise,  but  it  has  ail  Barry's 
defects  in  drawing  and  colouring,  defects  the  more  re* 
maskable,  because  in  his  printed  correspondence  and  lee* 
tures,  his  theory  on  these  subjects  is  accurate  and  unex- 
ceptionable. These  pictures  were  afterwards  engraved, 
but  what  they,  produced  is  not  known.  In  1792,  however, 
be  deposited  700/.  in  the  funds,  and  to  this  wealth  he 
never  afterwards  made  any  great  addition,  for  he  never 
possessed  more  than  60/.  a  year  from  the  funds,  a  sum 
barely  sufficient  to  pay  the  rent  and  other  charges  of  his 
house,  but  as  his  domestic  ceconomy  was  of.  the  meanest 
kind,  this  sum  was  probably  not  insufficient. 

In  1782,  he  was  elected  professor  of  painting,  in  room 
of  Mr.  Penny,  but  did  not  lecture  until  1784.  His  lee- 
.tures,  now  printed,  are  unquestionably  among  the  best  of 
his  writings.  •  He  had  long  meditated  an  extensive  design,, 
that  of  painting  the  progress  of  theology,  or,  "  to  deli- 
neate the  growth  of  that  state  of  mind  which  connects  man 
with  his  Creator,  and  to  represent  the  misty  medium  of 
connection  which  the  Pagan  world  bad  with  their  false 
Cods,  and  the  union  of  Jews  and  Christians  with  their 


BARRY.  61 

true  God,  by  means  of  revelation/'  At  the  time  of  his 
death,  he  was  employed  on  etchings  or  designs  for  this 
purpose,  but  made  no  great  progress.  In  the  mean  time 
he  published  his  "  Letter  to  the  Dilettanti,"  a  work  which 
his  biographer  justly  characterises  as  not  quite  so  tranquil 
or  praise- worthy. 

The  appointment  of  professor  of  painting*  honourable 
as  it  was,  and  the  duties  of  which  he  might  have  discharged 
with  reputation  to  himself,  became  in  his  hands  the  source 
of  misfortune  and  disgrace.     Original,  and  in  many  re- 
spects extremely  singular  in  his  opinions,    he  proposed 
changes  and  innovations  which  could  not  consistently  be 
complied  with,   and  by  these  means  he  often  subjected 
himself  to  the  pain  of  a  refusal.     His  great  object  was,  to 
appropriate  a  fund,  accumulated  from  the  receipts  of  ex- 
hibitions, to  form  a  gallery  of  the  old  masters,  for  the  use 
of  the  pupils.     In  this,  and  in  many  other  efforts  which  he 
made  with  the  same  view,  he  entirely  failed ;  so  that,  by 
continual  opposition,   he  at  length  rendered  himself  so 
obnoxious  to  the  jealousy  of  his  brethren,  that  early  in 
March  1799,  a  body  of  charges  was  received  by  the  council 
at  the  royal  academy,  against  the  professor  of  painting ; 
upon  which  the  following  resolution  was  passed,  "  that  the 
charges  and  information  were  sufficiently  important  to  be 
laid  before  the  whol$  body  of  academicians  to  be  ex- 
amined ;  and  if  they  coincide  in  opinion,  the  heads  of 
those  charges  to  be  then  communicated  to  the  professor 
of  painting."     This  was  intimated  t6  Mr.  Barry,  by  order 
of  the  council.     On  the  19th  of  March,  the  academy  re- 
ceived the  minutes  of  the  council  respecting  the  charges, 
and  referred  them  to  a  committee  elected  for  the  purpose. 
The  academy  met  again  the  1 5th  of  April,  to  Teceive  the 
report  of  the  committee,  when  Mr.  Barry  arose,  and  de- 
manded to  be  furnished  with  a  copy  of  the  report.     This 
being  denied,  h6  protested  against  the  injustice  of  the 
whole  proceeding,  and  withdrew,  declaring  in  plain  terms, 
that  "  if  they  acted  in  conjunction  with  his  enemies,  with- 
out giving  him  the  opportunity  of  answering  for  himself, 
and  refuting  the  charges  alleged  against  him,  he  should 
be  ashamed  to  belong  to  the  academy."     Having  with- 
drawn, Mr.  Barry  was  removed  by  a  vote  from  the  pro- 
fessor's ch^ir,   and  by  a  subsequent  vote,   expelled  the 
academy.     The  whole  proceedings  were  then  laid  before 
his  majesty,  who  was  pleased  to  approve  them,  and  Mr. 


$8  BARRY. 

.Barry's  name  was  accordingly  struck  off  from  the  roll  of 
academicians. 

Soon  after  this  event,  the  earl  of  Buchan  set  on  foot  a 
subscription,  which  amounted  to  about  1000/.  with  which 
his  friends  purchased  an  annuity  for  his  life ;  but  his  death 
prevented  his  reaping  any  benefit  from  this  design.     The 
.manner  of  his  death  is  thus  related  by  his  biographer : 
4<  On  the  evening  of  Thurday,  Feb.  6,  1806,  he  was  seized 
as  he  entered  the  house  where  he  usually  dined,  with  the 
cold  fit  of  a  pleuritic  fever,  of  so  intense  a  degree,  that 
all  his  (acuities  were  suspended,  and  he  unable  to  arti- 
culate or  move.     Some  cordial  was  administered  to  him, 
and  on  his  coming  a  little  to  lumself,  he  was  taken  in  a 
coach  to  the  dopr  of  his  owu  house,  which,  the  keyhole 
being  plugged  with  dirt  and  pebbles,  aa  had  been  often 
done  before,  by  the  malice,  or  perhaps  the  roguery  of 
boys  in  the  neighbourhood,   it  was  impossible  to  open. 
'The  night  being  dark,  and  he  shivering  under  the  pro- 
gress vi  his  disease,   his*  friends  thought  it  advisable  to 
drive  away  without  loss  of  time  to  the  hospitable  mansion 
of  Mr.  Bononni.     By  the  kindness  of  that  good  family,  a 
bed  was  procured  in  a  neighbouring  house,  to  which  he 
was  immediately  conveyed.     Here  he  desired  to  be  left, 
and   locjked  himself  up,    unfortunately,    for  forty  hours, 
without  the  least  medical  assistance.     What  took  place  in 
•the  jmean  time,  he  could  give  but  little  account  of,  as  he 
represented  himself  to  be  delirious,  and  only  recollected 
his  being  tortured  with  a  burning  pain  in  his  side,  and  with 
difficulty  of  breathing.     In  this  short  time  was  the  death- 
blow given,  which,  by  the  prompt  and  timely  aid  of  copious 
bleedings,  might  have  been  averted ;  but  without  this  aid, 
such  had  been  the  re-action  of  the  hot  fit  succeeding  the 
rigours,  and  the  violence  of  the  inflammation  on  the  pleura, 
that  an  elusion  of  lymph  bad   taken  place,  as  appeared 
afterwards  upon  dissection.     In  the  afternoon  of  Saturday, 
Feb.  8;  he  rose  and  crawled  forth  to  relate  his  complaint 
to  the  writer  of  this  account.     He  was  pale,  breathless, 
and  tottering,  as  he  entered  the  room,  with  a  dull  pain  in 
his  side,  a  cough  short  and  incessant,  and  a  pulse  quick 
and  feeble.     Succeeding  remedies  proved  of  little  avail. 
With  exacerbations  and  remissions  of  fever,  he  lingered 
to  the  22d  of  February,  when  he  expired."     His  remains, 
after  lying  in  state  in  the  great  room  of  the  society  of  arts, 
Adelphi,  was  interred  in  St.  Paul's  cathedral,,  with  dug 


BARRY-  59 

solemnity,  and  the  attendance  of  many  of  his  friends  aud 
admirers,  among  whom  was  not  one  artist. 

For  Barry's  character  we  may  refer  to  an  elaborate 
article  by  his  biographer.  To  us  it  appears  that  with  un- 
questionable talents,  original  genius,  and  strong  enthu- 
siasm for  his  art,  he  was  never  able  to  accomplish  what  he 
projected,  or  to  practise  all  that  he  professed.  Few  men 
appear  to  have  had  more  correct  notions  of  the  principles 
of  art,  or  to  have  departed  more  frequently  from  them. 
His  ambition  during  life  was  to  excel  no  less  as  a  literary 
theorist,  than  as  a  practical  artist,  and  it  must  be  allowed 
that  in  both  characters  he  has  left  specimens  sufficient  to 
rank  him  very  high  in  the  English  school.  Where  be  has 
failed  in  either,  we  should  be  inclined  to  attribute  it  to 
the  peculiar  frame  of  his  mind,  which,  in  his  early  as 
well  as  mature  years,  appears  to  have  been  deficient  in 
soundness :  alternately  agitated  by  conceit  or  flattery ; 
and  irritated  by  contradiction,  however  gentle,  and  sus- 
picion, however  groundless.  This  was  still  more  striking 
to  every  one  conversant  in  mental  derangement,  when  he 
exhibited  at  last,  that  most  common  of  all  symptoms,  a 
dread  of  plots  and  conspiracies.  This  went  so  far  at  one 
time,  that  when  robbed,  as  he  said,  of  a  sum  of  money, 
he  exculpated  common  thieves  and  housebreakers,  and  at- 
tributed the  theft  to  his  brother  artists,  jealous  of  his  re*, 
putation ;  yet  the  money  was  afterwards  found  where  he 
had  deposited  it.  The  same  unhappy  malady  may  account 
for  his  many  personal  eccentricities  of  Conduct,  over  which 
a  veil  may  now  be  thrown.  Nor  is  it  necessary  to  specify 
His  literary  publications,  as  they  were  all  collected  in  two 
volumes  4to,  published  in  1809,  under  the  title  of  "  The 
Works  of  James  Barry/9  with  a  life,  from  which  the  ' 
present  sketch  has  been  principally  taken. l 

BARTAS  (Wiluam  D£  Salluste  du),  the  son  of  a 
treasurer  of  France,  was  born  in  the  year  1544,  at  Mon- 
fort  in  Armagnac,  and  not  on  the  estate  de  Bartas,  which 
is  in  the  vicinity  of  that  little  town.  Henry  IV.  whom  he 
served  with  his  sword,  and  whom  hte  celebrated  in  hig 
-verses,  sent  him  on  various  commissions  to  England,  Den- 
mark, and  Scotland.  He  had  the  command  of  a  company 
of  cavalvy  in  Gascony,  under  the  marechal  de  Matignon. 

1  Set  also  E'iw»rds*s  Anecdote*  of  PainUm,   and  PUkinrton'i  Diet.  Edit* 
1810. 


«d  BARTA'S. 

Be  was  in  religious  profession  a  Calvinist,  and  died  in 
1590  at  the  age  of  46.  The  work  that  has  most  contri- 
buted to  render  his  name  famous,  is  the  poem  entitled 
u  Commentary  of  the  Week  of  the  creation  of  the  world,** 
in  seven  books;  Pierre  de  l'Ostal,  in  a  miserable  copy  of 
verses  addressed  to  du  Bartas,  and  prefixed  to  his  poem, 
says  that  this  book  is  "  greater  than  the  whole  uni verse.' * 
This  style  of  praise  on  the  dullest  of  all  versifiers,  was 
adopted  at  the  time,  but  has  not  descended  to  purs.  The 
style  of  du  Bartas  is  incorrect,  quaint,  and  vulgar;  hi* 
descriptions  are  given  under  the  most  disgusting  images. 
In  his  figures,  the  head  is  the  lodging  of  the  understand- 
ing ;  the  eyes  are  two  shining  casements,  or  twin  stars  ; 
the  nose,  the  gutter  or  the  chimney  ;  the  teeth,  a  double 
pallisade,  serving  as  a  mill  to  the  open  gullet ;  the  bands* 
the  chambermaids  of  nature,  the  bailiffs  of  the  mind,  and 
the  caterers  of  the  body ;  the  bones,  the  posts,  the  beams,  and 
the  columns  of  this  tabernacle  of  flesh.  We  have  several 
Other  works  by  the  seigneur  du  Bartas.  The  most  extra-r 
ordinary  is  a  little  poem,  composed  to  greet  the  queen  of 
Navarre  on  making  her  entry  into  Nerac.  Three  nymphs 
contend  for  the  honour  of  saluting  her  majesty.  The 
first  delivers  her  compliments  in  Latin,  the  second  in 
French,  and  the  third  in  Cascon  verses.  Du  Bartas,  how- 
ever, though  a  bad  poet,  was  a  good  man.  Whenever 
the  military  service  and  his  other  occupations  left  any  lei- 
sure time,  he  retired  to  the  chateau  de  Bartas,  far  from 
the  tumult  of  arms  and  business.  He  wished  for  nothing 
more  than  to  be  forgotten,  in  order  that  he  might  apply 
more  closely  to  study,  which  he  testifies  at  the  conclusion 
of  the  third  day  of  his  week.  Modesty  and  sincerity- 
formed  the  character  of  du  Bartas,  according  to  the  ac- 
count of  him  by  the  president  de  Thou.  "  I  know  (says 
that  famous  historian)  that  some  critics  find  his  style  ex- 
tremely figurative,  bombastic,  ami  full  of  gasconades.  For 
my  part/*  adds  he,  u  who  have  long  known  the  candour  of 
his  manners,  and  who  have  frequently  discoursed  with 
bim,  when,  during  the  civil  wars,  I  travelled  in  Guienne 
with  him,  I  can  affirm  that  I  never  remarked  any  thing  of 
the  kind  in  the  tenor  of  his  behaviour ;  and,  notwithstand- 
ing his  great  reputation,  he  always  spoke  with  singular  mo- 
desty of  himself  and  his  works."  His  book  of  the  "  Week," 
whatever  may  now  be  thought  of  it,  was  attended  with  a. 
success  not  inferior  to  that  of  the  best  performances* 


B  A  R  T  A  S.  61 

Within  the  space  of  five  or  six  years,  upwards  of  thirty 
editions  were  printed  of  it.  It  found  in  all  places,  com- 
mentators, abbreviators,  translators,  imitators,  and  adver- 
saries. His  works  were  collected  and  printed  in  1611, 
folio,  at  Paris,  by  Kigaud.  His  "  Week,"  and  other 
poems,  were  translated  into  English  by  Joshua  Sylvester, 
1605,  4to,  and  have  been  frequently  reprinted,  although 
not  of  late  years. * 

B ARTH  (John),  a  native  of  Dunkirk,  an  eminent  naval  . 
hero,  was  thfc  soil  of  an  humble  fisherman,  and  was  born 
in  165"1.  Before  the  year  1675,  he  was  famous  for  a  va- 
riety of  acts  no  less  singular  than  valiant,  to  particularize 
which  would  take  up  too  much  of  our  room.  His  courage 
having  been  signalised  on  a  variety  of  occasions,  he  was 
appointed  in  1692  to  the  command  of  a  squadron  consisting 
of  seven  frigates  and  a  fire-ship.  The  harbour  of  Dun- 
kirk was  then  blocked  up  by  thirty-two  ships  of  war, 
English  and  Dutch.  He  found  means  to  pass  this  fleet, 
and  the  next  day  took  four  English  vessels,  richly  freighted, 
and  bound  for  the  port  of  Archangel.  He  then  proceeded 
to  set  fire  to  eighty-six  sail  of  merchant  ships  of  various 
burdens.  He  next  made  a  descent  on  the  coast  of  Eng- 
land, near  Newcastle,  where  he  burnt  two  hundred  houses, 
and  brought  into  Dunkirk  prizes'to  the  amount  of  500,000 
crowns.  About  the  close  of  the  same  year,  1692,  being 
on  a  cruise  to  the  north  with  three  men  of  war,  Ije  fell  in 
with  a  Dutch  fleet  of  merchant  ships  loaded  with  corn, 
tinder  convoy  of  three  ships  of  war ;  Barth  attacked  them* 
captured  one  of  them,  after  having  put  the  others  to  flight, , ' 
which  he  then  chased,  and  made  himself  master  of  sixteen 
of  their  number.  In  1693,  he  had  the  command  of  the 
Glorieux,  of  sixty-six  guns,  to  join  the  naval  armament 
commanded  by  Tourville,  which  surprised  the  fleet  of 
Smyrna.  Barth,  being  separated  from  the  rest  of  the 
fleet  by  a  storm,  had  the  fortune  to  fall  in  with  six  Dutch 
vessels,  near  to  Foro,  all  richly  laden ;  some  of  these  he 
biirnt,  and  drove  the  rest  ashore.  This  active  and  inde-* 
fatigable  seaman  set  sail  a  few  months  afterwards  with  six 
ineu  of  war,  for  convoying  to  France,  from  the  port  of 
Velker,  a  fleet  loaded  with  corn,  and  conducted  it  suc- 
cessfully into  Dunkirk,  though  the  English  and  the  Dutch 

1  Gen.  Diet,  in  Sal  lust. — Moreri. — Diet  HUt.— For  an  account  of  the  English 
♦dkioot,  «ee  Gent.  Mag.  LXX.  p.  950. 


62  BARTH, 

had  sent  three  ships  of  the. line  to  intercept  it.     In  tfrer 
spring  of  1694  he  sailed  with  the  same  ships,  in  order  to 
return  to  Velker  to  intercept   a  fleet   loaded  with  com. 
This  fleet  had  already  left  the  port,  to  the  number  of  a 
hundred  sail  and  upwards,  under  escort  of  three  Danish 
and  Swedish  ships.     It  was  met  between  the  Texel  and 
the  Vlee,  by  the  vice-admiral  of  Friesland.     Hidde,  who 
commanded  a  squadron  composed  of  eight  ships  of  war, 
had  already  taken  possession   of  the  fleet.     But  on  the 
morrow,   Barth  came  up  with  him  at  the  height  of  the 
Texel;    and,  though  inferior  in  numbers  and  weight  of 
metal,  retook  all  the  prizes,  with  the  vice-admiral,  and 
two  other  ships.     This   brilliant  action    procured  him  a 
patent  of  nobility.     Two  years  afterwards,  in  J  696,  Barth 
occasioned  again  a  considerable  loss  to  the  Dutch,  by  cap- 
turing a  part  of  their  fleet,  which  he  met  at  about  six 
leagues  from  the  Vlee.     His  squadron  consisted  of  eight 
vessels  of  war,  and  several  privateers  ;  and  the  Dutch  fleet 
of  two  hundred  sail  of  merchant  ships,  escorted  by  a  num- 
ber of  frigates.   Barth  attacked  it  with  vigour,  and  boarding 
the  commander  himself,  took  thirty  merchant  ships  and 
'  four  of  the  convoy,  suffering  only  a  trifling  loss.     He  wasj 
however,  unable  to  complete  his  triumph.     Meeting  almost 
immediately  with  twelve  Dutch  men  of  war,  convoying  a 
fleet  to  the  north,  he  was  obliged  to  set  fire  to  his  prizes, 
to  prevent  their  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  and 
himself   escaped  only  by  being  in    a    fast. sailing   ship: 
This  celebrated  mariner  died  at  Dunkirk  the  27th  of  April 
1702,  of  a  pleurisy,  at  the  age  of  51.     Without  patrons, 
and  without  any  thing  to  trust  to  but  himself,  he  became 
chef  d'escadre,    after  having  passed  through  the  sevfcral 
inferior  ranks.     He  was  tall  in  stature,  robust,  well  made, 
though  of  a  rough  and  clumsy  figure.     He  could  neither 
write  nor  read  ;  having  only  learnt  to  subscribe  his  name; 
He  spoke  little,  and  incorrectly  ;  ignorant  of  the  manners 
of  polite  companies,  he  expressed  and  conducted  himself 
#n  all  occasions  like  a  sailor.     When  the  chevalier  de 
Forbin  brought  him  to  court  in  1691,  the  wits  of  Versailles 
said  to  one  another :  "  Come,  let  us  go  and  see  the  che**  - 
valier  de  Forbin  with  his  led-bear."     In  order  to  be  very 
fine  on  that  occasion,  he  appeared  in  a  pair  of  breeches 
pf  gold  tissue,  lined  with  silver  tissue ;  and,  on  coming 
away,  he  complained  that  his  court-dress  had  scrubbed 
him  so  that  he  was  almost  flaved.     Louis  XIV.  having  or- 


BARTH.  «$ 

•  <* 

dered  him  into  bis  presence,  said  to  him :  "  John  Barth, 
I  have  just  now  appointed  you  chef-d'escadre."—  *i  You 
have  done  very  well,  sir,"  returned  the  sailor.  This 
answer  having  occasioned  a  burst  of  laughter  among  the 
courtiers,  Louis  XIV.  took  it  in  another  manner.  "  You 
are  mistaken,  gentlemen,"  said  he,  "  on  the  meaning  of  the 
answer  of  John  Barth  ;  it  is  that  of  a  man  who  knows  his 
own  value,  and  intends  to  give  me  fresh  proofs  of  it." 
Barth,  in  fact,  was  nobody,  except  when  on  board  his 
ship ;  and  there  he  was  more  fitted  for  a  bold  action  than 
for  any  project  of  much  extent.  In  1780,  a  life  of  this 
celebrated  commander  was  published  in  2  vols.  12 mo,  at 
Paris. l 

BARTHELEMl  (John  James),  an  eminent  French  wri- 
ter, was  born  at  Cassis,  a  sea-port  in  Provence,  the  20th 
Jan.  1716.  His  family  had  been  long  established  at  Au- 
bagne,  in  that  neighbourhood,  where  it  had  been  univer- 
sally respected.  His  mother,  the  daughter  of  e  merchant 
at  Cassis,  he  lost  at  the  age  of  four  years.  When  he  ar- 
rived at  the  age  of  twelve  years,  he  was  sent  to  school  at 
Marseilles,  whence  he  was  transferred  to  the  seminary  of 
the  Jesuits,  where  he  received  the  tonsure.  White  with 
the  Jesuits,  he  formed  a  plan  of  study  for  himself,  inde- 
pendent of  the  professors  of  the  college,  and  applied  with 
unwholesome  sedulity  to  the  study  of  Greek,  Hebrew, 
Chaldean,  and  Syriac,  by  which  he  for  some  time  lost  his 
health,  and  nearly  his  life.  At  the  beginning  of  this  ar- 
duous course  of  study,  he  became  acquainted  with  a  young 
Maronite,  who  had  been  educated  at  Rome,  but  was  then 
resident  at  Marseilles,  from  whom  he  acquired  a  funda- 
mental knowledge  of  the  Arabic  language,  and  learned  to 
speak  it  with  facility.  By  the  advice  of  this  person  he 
committed  to  memory  several  Arabic  sermons,  which  he 
delivered  to  a  congregation  of  Arabian  and  Armenian  Ca- 
tholics, who  were  ignorant  of  the  French  language* 

At  the  outset  of  these  pursuits,  when  he  was  about  twen- 
ty-one years  of  age,  some  merchants  of  Marseilles  came  to ' 
him  with  a  kind  of  beggar,  who  had  made  his  appearance 
on 'change,  giving  himself  out  for  a  Jewish  rabbi,  learned 
but  distressed,  and  who  boldly  challenged  to  have  his  pre- 
tensions investigated  by  some  Oriental  scholar.  Our  author 
endeavoured  to  evade  the  task,  by  representing,  that  his 

1  Morcri.— Oict  Hist.  %  .      . 


«4        BARTHELEMI. 

• 

mode  of  study  could  at  most  enable  him  to  read/  but  not 
at  all  to  converse  in  the  dialects  of  the  East ;  but  there  was 
no  resisting.  The  Jew  began  to  repeat  the  first  Psalm  in 
Hebrew.  Our  author  recognized  it,  stopped  him  at  the 
end  of  the  first  verse,  and  addressed  him  with  one  of  the 
colloquial  phrases  from  his  Arabic  Grammar.  The  Jew 
then  repeated  *  the  second  verse,  and  our  author  another 
phrase ;  and  so  on  to  the  end  of  the  Psalm,  which  com- 
prised the  whole  scriptural  knowledge  of  the  rabbi.  Our 
author  closed  the  conference  with  another  sentence  in  Ara- 
bic, and,  with  more  good  nature  than  strict  propriety,  said, 
that  he  saw  no  reason  to  intercept  the  intended  charity  of 
the  merchants.  The  Jew,  delighted  beyond  expectation, 
declared,  that  he  had  travelled  over  Turkey  and  Egypt, 
but  had  no  where  met  with  the  equal  of  this  young  theolo- 
gian ;  who  acquired  prodigious  honour  by  this  ridiculous 
adventure.  In  vain  he  endeavoured  to  tell  the  story  fairly ; 
every  one  chose  the  marvellous  colouring  \  he  was  extolled  ■ 
as  a  prodigy ;  and  his  reputation  established  at  Marseilles, 

Having  finished  his  academical  studies,  he  retired  to 
Aubagne,  where  he  resided  some  time,  but  often  visit- 
ing Marseilles,  and  those  persons  with  whom  he  had  been 
connected  there.  Among  these  were  Mr.  Cary,  a  collector 
of  medals,  and  Pere  Segaloux  of  the  convent  of  Minims, 
with  whom  he  studied  astronomy. 

In  1744  he  went  to  Paris,  carrying  a  letter  with. him  to 
Mons.  de  Boze,  keeper  of  the  royal  medals,  a  learned  man, 
whose  age  and  infirmities  predisposing  bim  to  retire  from 
labour,  he  selected  our  author  as  an  associate  in  the  care 
and  arrangement  of  the  cabinet,  and  his  appointment  was 
confirmed  by  Mons.  de  Maurepas,  minister  of  that  depart- 
ment. Our  author  lost  no  time  in  arranging  in  perfect 
order  the  large  and  valuable  collection  of  Mons.  D'Etrees 
and  the  abbe  Kothelin,  which  had  remained  in  a  very  con- 
fused state.  These  he  separated,  compared,  and  described 
in  a  supplementary  catalogue.  At  this  time  his  career  in 
these  pursuits  was  threatened  with  an  interruption.  Hi* 
friend  and  countryman,  Mons.  de  Bausset,  bad  engaged  to 
promote  him  in  the  church,  and  being  now  bishop  of  Be- 
ziers,  invited  him  to  accept  the  office  of  vicar-general. 
Having  promised  to  follow  the  fortunes  of  his  friend,  our 
author  h^d  no  intention  of  retracting  his  engagement;  but 
wishing  to  be  released  from  it,  he  submitted  his  thoughts 
on  the  subject  to  the' bishop,  who  with  great  kindness  dis- 


BARTHELEHI  6$ 

charged  him  from  the  obligations  he  held  himself  under, 
and  left  him  to  follow  the  bent  of  his  inclinations.  In 
1747  he  was  elected  associate  of  the  academy  of  inscrip- 
tions, and  in  1753,  on  the  death  of  M.  de  Boze,  with 
whom  he  bad  been  associate  seven  years,  he  was  made 
keeper  of  the  cabinet  of  medals,  to  which  office  he  was 
promoted^  notwithstanding  some  considerable  opposition. 

The  succeeding  year  Mons.  de  Stainville,   afterwards 
duke  de  Choiseul,  being  appointed  ambassador  at  Rome, 
invited  our  author  to  accompany  him  to  Italy,  an  offer 
which  his  official  duty  induced  him  to  decline.     In  1755, 
however,  he  was  enabled  to   take  this  journey  with  his 
friend  Mons.  de  Cotte,  and  his  residence  in  Italy  was  ren- 
dered particularly  agreeable  by  the  continuance  of  Mons* 
de  Stainville  there,  who  introduced  him  to  the  celebrated 
pope  Benedict  XIV.     At  Naples  he  became  acquainted 
with  Mazocchi,  who  was  employed  in  the  task  of  unfold- 
ing the  numerous  ancient  manuscripts  that  had  been  found 
io  Herculaneum.  So  little  success  had  attended  this  under- 
taking at  that  period,  that  it  would  probably  have  been, 
abandoned,  but  for  the  encouragement  given  to  the  pro- 
secution of  it  by  our  author.     It  is  related  as  a  proof  of  the 
extent  of  his  memory,  that  having  applied  in  vain  for  li- 
berty to  copy  one  of  these  manuscripts,  in  order  to  send  a 
fac-simile  of  the  ancient  hand-writing  to  France,  and  being 
only  suffered  to  examine  it,  he  read  it  over  attentively  five 
or  six  times,  and  suddenly  leaving  the  apartment,  copied  the 
fragment  from  memory,  and  correcting  when  he  came  back 
some  slight  errors,  he  sent  it  the  same  day  to  the  academy  of 
belles  lettres,  enjoining  secrecy,  that  no  blame  might  at- 
tach to  Mazocchi.     While  at  Rome  he  gave  a  new  and 
satisfactory  explanation  of  the  beautiful   mosaic  of  Pa- 
lestina,  afterwards  printed  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Aca- 
demy of  inscriptions. 

In  1757,  Mons.  de  Stainville  returned  to  Paris,  and  be- 
ing appointed  to  the  embassy  of  Vienna,  our  author  joined 
him  there,  with  madarne  de  Stainville,  who  had  remained 
behind  at  Rome,  and  an  offer  was  made  him  to  undertake 
a  voyage  to  Greece,  and.  up  the  Levaot,  at  the  king's  ex- 
pense ;  but  he  declined  the  undertaking,  on  the  same 
ground  as  he  had  avoided  a  former  proposal,  as  being  in- 
compatible with  the  duties  of  his  office.  In  this  place,  we 
may  observe,  that  he  has  shewn  his  gratitude  to  his  patron, 
M.  de  Stainville,  and  bis  lady,  by  describing  thepa  in  the 
Vol.  IV.  F 


6«        BARTHELEMI.  ' 

cc  Travels  of  Anacharsis,"  under  the  names  of  Arsames  and 
Phedrina. 

Through  the  means  of  this  patron,  then  become  duke 
of  Choiseul,  and  principal  of  the  king's  ministers,  in  the 
room  of  cardinal  de  Bernis,  our  author,  in  1758,  was  amply 
provided  for,  first  by  pensions  on  the  archbishopric  of  the 
Abbey  and  the  treasure  of  St.  Martin  of  Tpurs,  and  after- 
wards by  the  place  of  secretary-general  of  the  Swiss ;  be- 
sides which  he  enjoyed  a  pension  of  5000  livres  on  the 
Mercure.  His  attachment  to  his  patron  was  highly  honour- 
able to  him.  In  1771,  on  the  dismission  of  the  duke  de 
Choiseul,  and  his  banishment  to  Chanteloup,  our  author  did 
not  hesitate  to  follow  him  :  and  when  that  minister  was 
compelled  to  resign  the  office  of  general  of  the  Swiss,  he 
would  have  given  up  his  place  of  secretary  immediately, 
if  his  patron  had  not  interfered.  He  went,  however,  to 
Paris,  and  offered  the  surrender  of  his  brevet  to  the  count 
d'Affry,  who  refused  to  accept  it,  being  willing  to  protect 
our  author  if  he  would  give  up  his  friend.  This  he  posi- 
tively refused  to  do. :  upon  which  M.  d' Affry,  much  to  his 
honour,  accepted  the  resignation,  granting  him  10,000 
livres  out  of  the  annual  profits  of  the  place,  and  Bar- 
thelemi  set  off  next  day  for  Chanteloup. 

Barthelemi  was  now  in  possession  of  a  considerable  in- 
come, not  less  than  35,000  livres  per  annum,  and  this  he 
employed  in  a  manner  highly  commendable.  Ten  thousand 
he  distributed  to  men  of  letters  in  distress,  and  the  remain- 
der he  enjoyed  with  great  liberality.  He  took  under  hia 
protection  three  of  his  nephews,  and  settled  and  esta- 
blished them  in  the  world.  He  promoted  the  welfare  also 
of  the  rest  of  his  family  which  remained  in  Provence,  and 
he  collected  a  numerous  and  valuable  library,  which  he 
disposed  of  sometime  before  his  death.  In  1788,  he  pub- 
lished his  celebrated  work,  "  The  Travels  of  Anachafsi* 
the  Younger  in  Greece,"  the  excellence  of  which  it  is  un- 
necessary to  point  out,  as  the  repeated  editions  of  the 
English  translation  have  made  it  familiar  in  this  country.  In 
1789  he  was  prevailed  upon  to  accept  the  vacant  seat  in 
the  French  academy,  which  he  had  before  declined.  Iii 
1790,  on  the  resignation  of  M.  Le  Noir,  librarian  to  tlie 
king,  that  post  was  offered  to  our  author  by  M.  de  St. 
Priest  He  declined  it,  however,  as  interfering  with  his 
literary  pursuits,  being  then  preparing  for  the  press  a  work 
he  had  long  meditated,  a  Catalogue  Raisonu6e  of  the  rich 


•• 


BARTHELEMI,  6% 

cabinet  be  bad  long  bad  under  his  care*  In  the  execution 
of  this  project  he  was,  defeated  by  the  unhappy  circum- 
stances of  the  times,  which  pressed  very  severely  upon  him 
in  other  respects.  His  places  and  appointments,  by  the 
madness  of  the  moment,  were  suppressed,  and  he  was  at 
the  close  of  his  life  reduced  to  great  difficulties.  Still, 
however,  he  was  never  known  to  complain,  and  might  be 
seen  daily  traversing  the  streets  of  Paris  on  fpot,  bent 
double  with  age  and  infirmity,  making  his  accustomed  visit* 
to  madame  De  Choiseul. 

In  the  year  1792,  a  visible  change  took  place  in  his  con* 
stitution ;  his  health   declined,  and  he  became  subject  to 
fainting  fits,  which  deprived  him  of  his  senses  for  many 
hours  together.  This  state  of  imbecility  was  rendered  more 
unhappy.     On  the  30th  of  August  1793,  he,  with  his  ne~ 
phew  and  six  other  persons  belonging  to  the  public  library* 
were  denounced  under  pretence  of  aristocracy,  by  persons 
to  whom  he  was  an  utter  stranger.     Being  then  at  madame 
de  Choiseul's,  he  was  removed  from  her  house,  and  con* 
ducted  to  the  prison  called  Les  Magdelonettes.     Though, 
from  his  great  age  and  bodily  infirmities,  he  was  sensible 
he  could  not  long  survive  the  severity  of  confinement,  still 
he  submitted  to  his  fate  with  that  calmness  and  serenity  of 
mind  which  innocence  only  can  inspire.     So  great  was  the 
estimation  in  which  he  was  held,  that  in  prison  every  at-* 
tention  was  paid  to  his  convenience.     A  separate  chamber 
was  allotted  to  him  and  bis  nephew,  where  they  received, 
on  the  evening  of  their  imprisonment,  an  early  visit  from 
madame  de  Choiseul.    By  her  interference,  aided  by  some 
others,  the  order  for  his  arrest  was  revoked,  and  before 
midnight  he  was  released  and  carried  back  to  her  house, 
from  whence  he  had  been  taken.    To  compensate,  in,  some 
degree,  for  the  insult  offered  him  (for  evea  the  wretches 
then  in  power  could  not  Jivest  themselves  of  all  sense  of 
shame),  he  in  October  following  was  proposed  on  the  ex-* 
ecution  of  Carra,  and  the  resignation  of  Champfort,  to  suc- 
ceed the  former  as  principal  librarian  ;  but  he  chose  to  de* 
cline  it,  on  account  of  his  age  and  infirmities.     These  last 
increased  visibly,  and  about  the  beginning  of  1795,  being 
then  in  his  eightieth  year,  his  decease  appeared  visibly  ap<* 
proaching,  and  it  was  probablyiiastened  by  the  extreme 
severity  of  the  season.     He  died  on  the  25th  of  April,  with 
little  corporal  suffering,  preserving  his  senses  so  entirely 
to  the  last,  that  he  was  reading  Horace,  in  company  witk 

f  2 


«*  B  A  It  T  H  £  L  E  M  I. 

kid  nephew,  two  hours  before  his  death,  and  was  probably 
unconscious  of  his  approaching  fate. 

His  person  was  tall,  and  of  good  proportion,  and  the 
structure  of  his  frame  seemed  well  adapted  to  support  the* 
vigorous  exertions  of  his  mind.  Houdon,  an  artist  of  me- 
lit,  has  finished  an  excellent  bust  of  him.  "  He  leaves," 
says  his  biographer,  "  each  of  his  relations  a  father  to  be- 
wail, his  friends  an  irreparable  loss  to  regret,  the  learned 
of  all  countries  an  example  to  follow,  and  the  men  of  all 
times  a  model  to  imitate." 

The  works  of  the  abbe  Barthelemi,  published  separately, 
are,  1.  "  Les  Amours  de  Carite  et  de  Polydore,"  a  romancer 
translated   from  the  Greek,  1760,   12 mo,  and  1796.     2. 
*'  Lettres  sur  quelques  monumens  Pheniciefls,"  1766$  4to. 
3.  "  Entretiens  sur  i'etat  de  la  Musique  Grecque  au  qua? 
trieme  siecle,"  1777,  8vo.     4.  "Voyage  du  jeune  Ana- 
charsis,"  already  mentioned,  of  which  there  have  been  va- 
rious editions  of  the  original,  particularly  a  superb  one  by 
Didot,  and  translations  into  English,  and  other  languages. 
5.  About  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  preparing  a  vast 
medallic  history,  under  the  title  of  "  Paleogfaphie  numis- 
matique,"  3  vols.  fol.      6.  "  Discours  prononcfi  a  Paca-» 
demie  Fran^aise,"  1789,  4to.   7.  "Voyage  in  Italie,"180lJ 
Svo.     8.  "  Dissertation  sur  une  inscription  Greque,  rela- 
tive aux  finances  des  Atheniens,"  1792,  8vo.   9.  "  CEuvres 
diversds,"  published  by  Sainte  Croix,   1798,  2  vols.  8vo. 
Besides  these  he  wrote  many  papers  on  subjects  of  classical 
antiquity  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy,  vol.  X.  to  LXXX.1 
BARTHES  DE   MARMORIONS  (Paul  Joseph),  a 
French  physician  and  medical  writer,  was  born  Dec.  1734, 
at  Montpellier,  and  discovered  in  his  earliest  years  a  noble 
ardour  for  study,  particularly  of  the  languages,  both  an- 
cient and  modern,  which  laid*the  foundation  for  that  ex- 
tensive and  various  knowledge  for  which  he  was  afterwards 
distinguished.     Having  at  length  given  the  preference  to 
medicine  as  a  profession,  he  applied  himself  to  that  art 
under  the  ablest  masters ;  and  such  was  his  proficiency,  that 
he  obtained  his  doctor's  degree  in  1753,  when  only  nineteen 
years  of  age.     In  1756   he  was  crowned  by  the  academy 
of  inscriptions  and  belles  lettres  at  Paris,  having  been  before, 
in  1754,  appointed  physician  to  the  military  hospital  in 

>  From  a  memoir  of  his  life  drawn  up  by  the  duke  de  Nivernoii,  and  translated 
in  the  Gent,  and  European  Magazines  for  1796.— DicU  Hist.— See  also  CeiiW 
Mas;.  1795,  p,  6*7  j  1796,  p.  &,  93. 


B  A  R  T  H  E  S.  €9 

Normandy.  Daring  this  service  he  made  many  observa* 
tions  and  inquiries,  which  were  published  in  the  Memoirs 
of  the  academy  of  sciences.  In  1757  he  was  sent  to  the 
army  in  Westphalia,  with  the  rank  of  consulting  physician, 
and  in  1761  he  was  appointed  professor  of  medicine  at 
Montpellier,  where  he  became  as  celebrated  as  Boerh'aave 
at  Ley  den,  Stahl  at  Hall,  or  Cull  en  at  Edinburgh,  giving 
such  a  new  direction  to  the  medical  studies  as  to  create  an 
important  epoch  in  the  history  of  that  school.  Here  he 
filled  the  professpr's  chair  for  twenty  years,  with  the 
highest  reputation.  In  1775,  he  was  named  joint  chancel- 
lor of  the  faculty  of  Montpellier,  and  in  1786  pbtained  the 
full  title  of  chancellor.  About  six  ye^rs  before,  be  had 
been  appointed  member  of  the  court  of  accounts  and  fi- 
nance, and  some  time  before  that,  physician  to  the  duke 
of  Orleans.  About  the  time  that  he  visited  Paris,  and 
formed  an  intimacy  with  tbe  leading  men  in  the  learned 
world,  particularly  d'Alembert  and  Malesberbes,  he  ber 
came  a  member  of  the  academy  of  sciences  of  Paris,  Ber- 
lin, Gottingen,  and  Stockholm.  At  length  he  was  chosen 
corresponding  member  of  the  national  institute  of  France, 
and  professor,  honorary  and  actual,  of  the  new  school  of 
medicine  at  Montpellier,  physician  to  the  French  govern*, 
ment,  and  consulting  physician  to  the  emperor.  He  died 
at  Paris,  Oct.  15,  1806,  aged  seventy-two.  His  works, 
according  to  the  Diet.  Historique,  are  various  medical 
theses  and  dissertations,  memoirs  published  by  various  aca- 
demies, particularly  that  of  Paris,  in  the  years  1799  and 
1801 ;  and,  1.  "La  nouvelle  mecanique  de  I'homme  et des 
animaux,"  1802.  2.  "  L'Histoire  des  maladies  goutteuses, 
Paris,  1802.     3.  "  Discours  sur  le  genie  d'Hippocrate, 

{>jronounced  in  the  school  of  Montpellier.  4.  "  Traite  sur 
e  Beau,"  a  posthumous  work.  In  Fourcroy's  catalogue 
we  find  another  publication  attributed  to  him,  under  the 
title  of  "  Elnathan,  ou  les  ages  de  l'homme,  trad,  du  Chal- 
deen,"  1802,  3  vols.  8vo.  The  compiler  of  this  catalogue 
calls  him  fiarthes-Marmorieres. 1 

BARTHIUS  (Caspar),  a  very  learned  and  voluminous 
writer,  was  born  at  Custrin  in  Brandenburg,  June  22, 1 587. 
His  father  was  professor  of  civil  law  at  Francfort  upon  the 
Oder,  councillor  to  the  elector  of  Brandenburg,  and  his 
chancellor  at  Custrin.     Having  discovered  in  his  son  very 

*  Diet  Historique. 


tt 


?0  '     BARTHIUS. 

early  marks  of  genius,  he  provided  him  with  proper  masters; 
but  he  enjoyed  only  a  little  time  the  pleasure  of  seeing  the 
fruits  of  his  care,  for  he  died  in  1597.  Mr.  Baillet  has  in- 
serted Caspar  in  his  "Enfans  c£l£bres;"  where  he  tells  us, 
that,  at  twelve  years  of  age,  he  translated  David's  psalms 
into  Latin  verse  of  every  measure,  and  published  several 
Latin  poems.  Upon  the  death  of  his  father  he  was  sent  to 
Gotha,  then  to  Eisenach,  and  afterwards,  according  to 
custom,  went  through  the  different  universities  in  Germany. 
When  he  had  finished  his  studies,  he  began  his  travels ; 
he  visited  Italy,  France,  Spain,  England,  and  Holland, 
improving  himself  by  the  conversation  and  works  of  the 
learned  in  every  country.  He  studied  the  modern  as  well 
as  ancient  languages,  and  his  translations  from  the  Spanish 
and  French  shew  that  he  was  not  content  with  a  superficial 
knowledge.  Upon  his  return  to  Germany,  to  took  up  his 
residence  at  Leipsic,  where  he  led  a  retired  life,  his  pas- 
sion for  study  having  made  him  renounce  all  sort  of  em- 
ployment ;  so  that  as  he  devoted  his  whole  time  to  books, 
toe  need  be  the  less  surprised  at  the  vast  number  which  he 
published. 

Barthius  formed  early  a  resolution  of  disengaging  him* 
self  entirely  from  worldly  affairs  and  profane  studies,  in 
order  to  apply  himself  wholly  to  the  great  business  of  sal- 
vation :  he  did  not,  however,  put  this  design  in  execution 
till  towards  the  latter  end  of  his  life  ;  as  appears  from  his 
Soliloquies,  published  in  1654.  He  died  Sept.  1658, 
aged  71. 

Barthius,  in  his  comment  On  Statius,  after  noticing  that 
that  poet  congratulated  himself  on  having  written  two  hun- 
dred and  seventy-eight  hexameters  in  two  days,  adds,  that; 
he  himself  was  not  ignorant  of  what  it  is  to  make  a  great  many 
Verses  in  a  short  time,  as  he  translated  into  Latin  the  first  three 
books  of  the  Iliad,  which  contain  above  two  thousand  verses, 
in  three  days.  In  1 607,  he  published,  at  Wittemberg,  a  col- 
lection of  u  Juvenilia ;"  containing  all  the  poems  which  he 
wrote  from  the  thirteenth  to  the  nineteenth  year  of  his 
age.  When  only  sixteen  he  wrote  a  treatise,  or  disserta- 
tion, on  the  manner  of  reading  to  advantage  the  Latin  au- 
thors, which  shows  that  his  own  reading  was '  as  judicious 
as  extensive,  and  both  far  exceeding  what  could  be  ex* 
pected  at  that  age.  This  piece  is  inserted  in  the  50th  book 
of  bis  "  Adversaria."  His,  other  works  were,  1. lt  Zodiacus 
vit#  Christianse,"  Francfort,  1 623,  2. "  Epidorpidon ex  mero 


B  A  R  T  H  I  U  S.  71 

Scazonte  Libri  III.  in  quibus  bona  pars  humanae  Sapientiae 
metro  explicatur,"  ibid.  1623.  3,  "  Tarracus  Hebius,"  EpU 
grams,  divided  into  thirty  books,  and  dedicated  to  king 
James,  date  not  mentioned.  4.  "  Amabilium  Anacreonte 
decantati,"  1612,  with  many  other  works,  original  and 
translated,  which  are  now  forgotten,  except  his  editions  of 
Claudian  and  of  Statius,  and  his  "  Adversaria,"  fol.  Franc- 
fort,  1624  and  1648.  This  last  is  a  collection  of  remarks 
on  various  authors  and  subjects,  which  proves  most  ex- 
tensive reading  and  erudition,  with,  what  frequently  ac- 
companies these,  some  defect  of  judgment  in  the  arrange- 
ment. Barthius  was  in  all  respects  an  extraordinary  man, 
and  his  writings  published  and  left  in  manuscript,  form  a 
mass  scarcely  to  be  equalled  in  the  annals  of  literary  indus- 
try. It  is  recorded  of  him  that  he  never  made  use  of  any 
collections,  or  common-place  books,  trusting  to  the  vigour 
of  his  memory,  and  that  he  very  rarely  corrected  what  he 
had  written. l 

BARTHOLINE  (Caspar),  an  eminent  physician,  was 
born  Feb.  12,  1585,  at  Malmoe  or  Malmuylin  in  Scandina- 
via, where  his  father  was  a  Lutheran  divine.  In  his  third 
year,  it  is  said,  he  could  read  with  ease,  and  at  thirteen 
he  composed  Greek  and  Latin  orations,  and  pronounced 
them  in  public,  and  at  eighteen,  he  went  to  study  in  the 
university  of  Copenhagen.  In  1603  he  removed  to  Ro- 
stock, and  thence  to  Wirtemberg.  He  continued  three 
years  in  this  last  place,  where  he  applied  himself  to  phi- 
losophy and  divinity  with  so  much  assiduity,  that  he  rose 
always  before  break  of  day,  and  went  to  bed  very  late. 
When  he  had  finished  his  studies,  he  took  his  degree  of 
master  of  arts  in  1607. 

Bartholine  now  began  his  travels ;  and,  after  having 
gone  through  part  of  Germany,  Flanders,  and  Holland,  he 
passed  over  to  England,  whence  he  removed  to  Germany, 
in  order  to  proceed  to  Italy.  After  his  departure  from 
Wirtemberg,  he  had  made  physic  his  principal  study,  and 
neglected  nothing  to  improve  himself  in  the  different  uni- 
versities through  which  he  passed.  He  received  every- 
where -marks  of  respect ;  at  Naples  particularly  they  so- 
licited him  to  be  anatomical  professor,  but  he  declined  it. 
In  France  he  was  offered  the  Greek  professorship  at  Sedan, 

1  Gen.  Diet.— Niceron,  vol.  VII,— Moreri.— -Saxii  Onomast.— Blount's  Cen- 
tura. 


12  BARTHOLIN  E. 

which  he  also  refused.     After  he  had  travelled  as  far  as  the 
frontiers  of  Spain,  he  returned  to  Italy,  in  order  to  perfect 
himself  in  the  practice  of  medicine.     He  went  from  thence 
to  Padua,  where  he  applied  with  great  care  to  anatomy 
and  dissection.     After  some  stay  in  this  place  be  removed 
to  Basil,  where  he  had  studied  physic  some  time  before  ; 
and  here  he  received  his  doctor's  degree  in  physic  in  1610. 
He  next  went  to  Wirtemberg  and  Holland,  and  intended 
to  have  extended  his  travels  still  farther,  had  he  not  been 
appointed  professor  of  the  Latin  tongue  at  Copenhagen  ; 
but  he  did  not  enjoy  this  long ;  for,  at  the  end  of  six 
months,  in  1613,  he  was  chosen   professor  of  medicine, 
which  was  much  more  adapted  to  his  talents  and  disposi- 
tion.    He  held  this  professorship  eleven  years,  when  he 
fell  into  an  illness,  which  made  him  despair  of  life  :  in  this 
extremity  he  made  a  vow,  that  if  he  was  restored  to  health, 
he  would  apply  himself  to  no  other  study  than  that  of  di- 
vinity.    He    recovered,  and  kept  his   promise.     Conrad 
Aslach,  the  professor  of  divinity,  dying  some  years  after, 
Caspar  was  appointed  his  successor,  the  12th  of  March 
3  624;  the  king  also  gave  him  the  canonry  of  Roschild. 
He  died  of  a  violent  colic,  the  13th  of  July  1629,  at  Sora, 
whither  he  had  grfne  to  conduct  his  eldest  son.     His  works 
are,*  1.  "  Problematum  philosophicorum  et  medicorum  mis- 
cellaneae  observationes,"  1611,  4to»     2.  "  Opuscula  qua- 
tuor  singularia,  de  lapide  nephritico,  &c."  Hafniae,  1623 
and  1663.     3.  "  Anatomic*  institutiones,"  1611,  often  re- 
printed.   4.  "  Controversial  Anatomicae,"  1631.  5."  Syn- 
tagma medicum  et  chirurgicum  de  cauteriis,"  1642.     6. 
u  Enchiridion  physicum}?'  1625.  7.  "  Systema  physicum," 
1628.     8.  "  Manuductio  ad  veram  phycologiam  ex  sacf. 
litter.    &c."  1631,  12 mo.     Brochmand  pr6nounced  a  fu- 
neral oration,  containing  a  life  of  Bartholine. l 

BARTHOLINE  (Thomas,)  son  of  the  preceding,  and 
likewise  a  celebrated  physician,  was  born  at  Copenhagen  ' 
the  20th  Oct.  1616.  After  some  years  education  in  bis 
own  country,  he  went  to  Leyden  in  1637,  where  he  stu- 
died physic  for  three  years.  He  travelled  next  to  France ; 
and  resided  two  years  at  Paris  and  Montpellier,  in  order  to 
improve  himself  under  the  famous  physicians  of  these  twd 
universities.     He  went  from  thence  to  Italy,  and  continued 

1  Moreri.— rMangpt  Bibl.  Script.  Med.— Halter  Bibl.  Anat«— Saxii  Onomasti* ' 
con.-»Niceroii;  vol.  VI. 


8ARTHOUNE.  75 

three  years  at  Padua,  where  he  was  treated  with  great  ho* 
nour  and  respect,  and  was  made  a  member  of  the  Incogniti 
by  John  Francis  Loredan,     After  having  visited  most  parts 
of  Italy,  he  went  to  Malta,  from  that  to  Padua,  and  then  to 
Basil,  where  he  received  his  doctor's  degree  in  physic,  the 
14th  of  Oct.  1645,     The  year  following  he  returned  to  his 
native  country,  where  he  did  not  remain  long  without  em- 
ployment ;  for,  upon  the  death  of  Christopher  Longomon- 
tanus,  professor  of  mathematics  at  Copenhagen,  he  was  ap- 
pointed his  successor  in  1647.     In  1648  he  was  named  to 
the  anatomical  chair ;   an  employment  more  suited  to  his 
genius  and  inclination,  which  he  discharged  with  great  as- 
siduity for  thirteen  years.     His  intense  application  having 
rendered  his  constitution  very  infirm,  he  resigned  his  chair 
in  1661,  and  the  king  of  Denmark  allowed  him  the  title  of 
honorary  professor.     He  retired  to  a  little  estate  he  .had 
purchased  at  Hagegted,  near  Copenhagen,  where  he  in- 
tended to  spend  the  remainder  of  his  days  in  peace  and 
tranquillity.     An  unlucky  accident,  however,  disturbed  him 
in  his  retreat :  his  house  took  fire  in  1670,  and  his  library 
was  destroyed,  with  all  his  books  and  manuscripts.     In  con- 
sideration of  this  loss,  the  king  appointed  him  his  physi* 
cian,  with  a  handsome  salary,  and  exempted  his  land  from 
all  taxes.     The  university  of  Copenhagen,  likewise,  touched 
with  his  misfortune,  appointed  him  their  librarian ;  and  in 
1675  the  king  honoured  him  still  farther,  by  giving  him  a 
6eat  in  the  grand  council  of  Denmark.     He  died  the  4th  of 
Dec.  1680,  leaving  a  family  of  five  sons  and  three  daughters. 
Gaspard,  one  of  the  sons,  succeeded  him  in  the  anatomical 
chair;  another  was  counsellor-secretary  to  the  king,  and 
professor  of  antiquities ;    John  was  professor  of  theology ; 
Christopher,    of  mathematics;    and    Thomas,    mentioned 
hereafter,   professor  of  history.      Margaret,  one  of    the 
daughters  of  this  learned  family,  acquired  considerable  fame 
fofr  her  poetical  talents. 

The  principal  of  Bartholine's  works  are,  1.  u  Anatomia 
Caspari  Bartholini  parentis  n.ovis  observationibus  primum 
locupletata,"  L.  Bat.  1641,  8vo.  2.  "  De  unicornu  ob- 
•ervationes  novae.  Accesserunt  de  aureo  cornu  Olai  Wor- 
jnii  eruditorum  judicia,"  Patavii,  1645,  8vo.  3.  "  De 
nionstris  in  Natura  et  Medicina,"  Basil,  1645,  4to.  4. 
"  Antiquitatum  veteris  puerperii  synopsis,  operi  magno  ad 
eruditos  praFtmissa,"  Hafnia?,  1646,  8vo.  5.  "  De  luce 
animalium  libri  tres,    admirandis    historiis  rationibusque 


7*  BARTHOLINE. 

novis  referti,'*  L.  Bat.  1647,  8vo.  6.  "  De  armillis  veterum, 
pracsertitn  Danorum  Schedibn/'  Hafniae,  164S,  8vo.  A 
more  full  catalogue,  including  all  his  papers,  memoirs,  &c. 
may  be  seen  in  Mangel's  Bibliotheca.  Bartholine  has'  the 
honour  to  rank  with  those  who  have  contributed  essentially 
to  llie  improvement  of  medical  science.  He  added  consi- 
derably to  the  discovery  of  the  lacteal  vessels,  and  that  of 
the  lymphatics. l 

.  BARTHOLINE  (Thomas),  son  of  the  preceding,  be- 
came eminent  in  the  science  of  jurisprudence,  in  the  pro- 
secution of  which  he  studied  at  the  universities  of  Copen- 
hagen, Leyden,  Oxford,  Paris,  Leipsic,  and  at  London. 
On  his  return  home  he  was  appointed  professor  of  history 
and  civil  law,  and  held  the  offices  of  assessor  of  the  consis- 
tory, secretary,  antiquary,  and  keeper  of  the  royal  archives. 
He  died  Nov.  5,  1690.  He  published,  1.  "  De  Holgero 
Dano,"  1677,  8vo.  2.  "  De  Longobardis,"  1676,  4to. 
3.  "  De  equestris  ordinis  Danebrogici  a  Christiano  V.  in- 
stauratt  origine,"  fol.  4.  "  De  causis  mortis  a  Danis  gen- 
tilibus  contempt*."  5.  "  Antiquit.  Danic.  libri  tres,'\ 
1689,  4to.  He  left  also,  but  unfinished,  an  ecclesiastical 
history  of  the  North.  * 

BARTHOLINE  (Erasmus),  one  of  the  sons  of  Caspar, 
was  born  Aug.  13,  1625,  at  lloschild.  After  pursuing  his 
studies  at  Copenhagen,  he  travelled  from  1646  to  1657, 
through  England,  France,  Italy,  Germany,  and  the  Nether- 
lands. In  1654  he  was  admitted  to  the  degree  of  doctor  at 
Padua,  and  on  his  return  to  Denmark  he  was  appointed 
professor  of  medicine  and  geometry.  The  time  of  his 
death  we  have  no  where  been  able  to  discover.  He  pub- 
lished, 1.  "  De  figura  nivis  dissertatio,"  Hafniae,  1661,  8vo. 
2.  "  De  cometis  anni  1664  et  1665,"  ibid.  1665,  4to.  3. 
"  Experimenta  crystali  Islandici  disdiaclasti,"  1665,  1670, 
4to.  4.  "  De  naturae  mirabilibus,  quaestiones  academicae," 
1674,  4to.  5.  "  De  Aere,"  1679,  8vo.  There  were  others 
pf  this  family,  celebrated  in  their  day  for  learning  and  per- 
sonal worth,  but  whose  memoirs  have  not  been  handed 
<down  with  much  precision. 3 

BARTHOLOMEW  of  the  Martyrs,  a  pious  and 
learned  Dominican,  and  archbishop  of  Braga  in  Portugal, 
was  born  in  May,  1514,  in  the  city  of  Lisbon.     His  father's 

I  Moreri.— -*Manget  Bibl.  Script  Med. — Hailer.  Bibl.  Anat. — Saxii  Qnomasti- 
eon.—Niccrou,  vol.  VI. 
•    *  Moreri.  a  Diet.  Hist.— Moreri.— Saxii  OnomastiCbn. 


BARTHOLOMEW.  75 

Tfamc  was  Dominic  Fernandez;  but  as  the  son  happened  to 
be  baptised  in  the  church  of  our  Lady  of  the  Martyrs,  he 
adopted  this  last  name  instead  of  that  of  his  family.  In 
1523  he  took  the  habit  of  the  order  of  St.  Dominic,  and 
after5  arriving  at  his  doctor's  degree,  was  appointed  precep- 
tor to  Don  Antonio,  son  of  the  infant  Don  Lewis,  brother  of 
king  John  III.  For  twenty  years  also  he  taught  divinity, 
and  acquired  such  a  character  for  sanctity  and  talents,  that 
on  a  vacancy  for  the  archbishopric  of  Braga,  Bartholomew 
was  universally  recommended ;  but  he  persisted  for  a  long 
time  in  refusing  it,  until  threatened  with  excommunication. 
Nor  was  this  reluctance  affected,  for  he  had  such  a  fixed 
repugnance  against  undertaking  this  high  charge,  that  the 
compulsion  employed  threw  him  into  a  disorder  from  which 
it  wis  thought  he  could  not  recover.  When  it  abated,  bow- 
ever,  he  went  to  bis  diocese,  and  began  to  exercise  his 
functions  in  the  most  exemplary  manner.  In  1561  he  was 
present  at  the  council  of  Trent,  under  pope  Pius  IV.  where 
he  discovered  such  knowledge  and  spirit  as  to  acquire  ge- 
neral esteem.  It  was  he  who  advised  the  fathers  of  this 
council  to  begin  business  by  a  reformation  of  the  clergy; 
and  when  some  of  the  bishops  demanded  if  be  meant  to 
extend  bis  reform  to  the  most  illustrious  cardinals,  he  re- 
plied, that  those  "  most  illustrious1'  cardinals  stood  very 
much  in  need  of  a  "  most  illustrious"  reformation.  In 
1563  he  went  with  cardinal  de  Lorraine  to  Rome,  where  the 
pope  received  hinA  with  every  mark  of  esteem  and  confi- 
dence. Here  he  spoke  his  mind  on  ecclesiastical  abuses 
with  great  freedom,  and  observing  the  custom  in  one  of 
their  assemblies,  that  the  bishops  stood  uncovered,  while 
the  cardinals  sat  covered,  he  remonstrated  with  the  pope  so 
effectually,  that  this  affront  to  the  episcopal  dignity  was  no 
longer  tolerated.  His  principal  motive,  however,  for  this 
journey  to  Rome,*  was  to  obtain  leave  to  resign  his  archbi- 
shopric; but  the  pope  refused,  on  which  he  returned  to 
Trent,  and  as  soon  as  the  council  was  over,  went  to  Braga, 
where  he  remained  until  the  pontificate  of  Gregory  XIII. 
who  at  length  accepted  his  resignation.  After  this  he  led  a 
tetired  life,  entirely  occupied  in  acts  of  charity  and  devo- 
tion. He  died  in  the  convent  of  Viana,  July  16,  1590,  in 
the  seventy-seventh  year  of  his  age.  His  works  were  pub- 
lished at  Rome,  1744,  2  vols.  fol.  and  consist  of  pious  trea- 
tises, and  an  itinerary  of  his  travels,  in  which  we  discover 
much  of  the  excellence  of  his  character.     M.  le  Maitre  de 


76  BARTHOLOMEW. 

Saci  published  his  life  in  4to  and  12mo,  1664.     He  was 
beatified  by  pope  Clement  XIV.  in  1773,* 

BARTOL1  (Daniel),  a  learned  and  laborious  Jesuit, 
was  born  at  Ferrara  in  1608.  After  having  professed  the 
art  of  rhetoric,  and  for  a  long  time  devoted  himself  to 
preaching,  his  superiors  fixed  him' at  Rome  in  1650,  From 
that  period  till  his  death  he  published  a  great  number  of 
works,  as  well  historical  as  others,  all  in  the  Italian  language. 
The  most  known  and  the  most  considerable  is  a  history  of 
his  society,  printed  at  Rome,  from  1650  to  1673,  in  6  vols, 
folio;  translated  into  Latin  by  father  Giannini,  and  printed 
at  Lyons  in  16(6  et  seq.  All  his  other  works,  the  historical 
excepted,  were  collected  and  published  at  Venice  in  1717, 
3  vols,  in  4to.  Both  the  one  and  the  other  are  much 
esteemed,  no  less  for  their  matter,  than  for  the  purity,  the 
precision,  and  the  elevation  of  their  diction  ;  and  this  Je- 
suit is  regarded  by  his  countrymen  as  one  of  the  purest 
writers  of  the  Italian  language.  Haller  praises  his  phi? 
losophical  works,  and  Dr.  Burney  that  on  Harmony, 
published  at  Bologna,  1680,  under  the  title  €t  Del  Suono 
de  Tremori  Armonici  e  dell'  Udito,"  a  truly  scientific  and 
ingenious  work,  in  which  are  several  discoveries  in  harmo- 
nics, that  have  been  pursued  by  posterior  writers  on  the 
subject.  He  died  at  Rome,  Jan.  13,  1685,  at  the  age  of 
seventy- seven,  after  having  signalized  himself  as  much  by 
his  virtues  as  by  his  literary  attainments.  * 

BARTOLO,  or  BARTHOLUS,  an  eminent  lawyer,  was 
born  in  13 1 3,  at  Saxo  Ferrato,  in  the  march  of  Ancona. 
He  studied  law  under  the  ablest  masters  at  Perugia  and 
Bologna ;  and  when  the  university  of  Pisa  was  founded,  he 
was  appointed  one  of  its  professors,  although  then  only  in 
his  twenty-sixth  yean  After  remaining  here  eight  or  nin# 
years,  he  left  Pisa  for  a,  professor's  chair  at  Perugia,  where 
he  was  honoured  wjth  the  title  and  privileges  of  a  citizen. 
In  1355,  when  the  emperor  Charles  IV.  came  to  Italy^ 
Bartoto  was  appointed  to  make  him  a  complimentary  ad- 
dress at  Pisa.  Taking  advantage  of  so  favourable  an  opr 
portunity,  he  obtained  for  that  infant  university  the  same 
privileges  enjoyed  by  more  ancient  establishments  of  the 
kind ;  and  the  emperors  bestowed  many  favours  on  Bartolo 
himself,  particularly  his  permission  to  use  thg  arms  of  th$ 

1  Antonio  Bibl.  Hisp.— Moreri.— Diet.  Hist 

*  Diet.  Hist.— Moreri.— Haller  Bibl.  An*t— Bnraey'i  Hi^t.  of  Music,  vol.  I  If. 


.  B  A  RT  O  L  0.  77 

lings  of  Bohemia.  Some  authors  are  of  opinion  that  these 
honours  were  conferred  upon  him  on  account  of  the  famous 
Golden  Bull,  which  Charles  published  the  year  after,  and 
in  preparing  which  he  had  availed  himself  of  Bartolo's  as* 
sistance.  But  Bartolo  did  not  enjoy  his  honours  long :  on  his 
return  to  Perugia  he  died,  according  to  the  most  probable 
account,  in  bis  forty-sixth  year.  So  short  a  life  seems  in- 
adequate to  the  extensive  learning  he  is  acknowledged 
to  .have  accumulated,  and  particularly  to  the  voluminous 
works  which  he  published.  Gravina,  who  does  ample  jus- 
tice to  his  learning,  censures  him  for  the  introduction  of 
those  subtleties  which  obscured  the  study  of  the  civil  lawj 
and  from  the  specimen  given  by  his  biographers,  of  a  cause 
between  the  Virgin  Mary  and  the  Devil,  gravely  argued  in 
his  works,  we  have  perhaps  now  reason  to  rank  him  among 
the  deservedly  forgotten  quibblers  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury. In  his  own  days,  however,  he  reached  the  highest 
possible  height  of  reputation ;  he  was  honoured  with  the 
epithets  of  the  u  star  and  luminary  of  lawyers,"  "  the  mas- 
ter of  truth,"  "  the  lanthern  of  equity,"  "  the  guide  of  the 
blind,"  &c.  His  works  were  printed  at  Venice,  1590,  in 
10  or  11  volumes  folio.  * 

BARTOLOCCI  (Julius),  a  Cistercian  monk,  born  at 
Celano  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples  in  1613,  was  professor  of 
the  Hebrew  tongue  at  the  college  of  the  Neophytes  and 
Transmarins  at  Rome,  from  1651  to  the  time  of  his  death, 
Nov.  1,  1687,  aged  seventy-four.  There  is  by  him  a  Bib- 
liotheca Rabbinica,  entitled  "  Bibliotheca  magna  rabbin ica 
de  scriptoribus  et  scriptis  Hebraicis,  ordine  alphabetico 
Hebraice  et  Latin e  digestis;"  in  folio,  4  vols.  Rom.  1675* 
Father  Charles  Joseph  Imbonati,  one  of  his  disciples,  added 
a  fifth  volume,  under  the  title  of  "  Bibliotheca  Latino-He- 
braica."  M.  Simon  allows  that  Bartolocci  possessed  a 
great  fund  of  Rabbinical  learning,  but  was  deficient  in 
sacred  criticism,  and  in  strict  impartiality,  and  that  his 
work,  in  order  to  be  made  really  useful,  should  be  abridged 
into  a  single  volume.  * 

BAftTON  (Elizabeth),  commonly  called  "  The  holy 
Maid  of  Kent,"  a  religious  impostor  in  the  reign  of  Henry 
VIII.  was  a  servant  at  Aldington  in  Kent,  and  had  long 
been  troubled  with  convulsions,  which  distorted  her  limbs 
and  countenance,  and  threw  her  body  into  the  most  violent 

1  Moreri. — Fabr.  B'ibl.  Qr»c.  et  Bibl.  Med.  Bvl — Saxii  OnouaasUcolu 
•  Moreri.— ^SUboh'm  Bibl.  Critique,  val,  I.  chap,  6. 


78<  BARTON. 

agitations ;  and  die  effect  of  the  disorder  was  such,  that? 
even  after  she  recovered,  she  could  counterfeit  the  same 
appearance..  Masters,  the  minister  of  Aldington,  with 
other  ecclesiastics,  thinking  her  a  proper  instrument  for 
their  purpose,  persuaded  her  to  pretend,  that  what  she 
said  and  did  was  by  a  supernatural  impulse,  and  taught  her 
to  act  her  part  in  a  manner  well  calculated  to  deceive  the. 
public.  Sometimes  she  counterfeited  a  trance;  then  com-, 
ing  to  herself,  after  many  strange  contortions,  would  break 
out  into  pious  ejaculations,  hymns,  and  prayers,  sometime* 
delivering  herself  in  set  speeches,  sometimes  in  uncouth 
monkish  rhymes.  She  pretended  to  be  honoured  with  vi- 
sions and  relations,  to  hear  heavenly  voices,  and  the  most 
ravishing  melody.  She  declaimed  against  the  wickedness 
of  the  times,  against  heresy  and  innovations,  exhorting  the 
people  to  frequent  the  church,  to  hear  masses,  to  use  fre-: 
quent  confessions,  and  to  pray  to  our  lady  and  all  the  saints. 
All  this  artful  management,  together,  with  great  exterior 
piety,  virtue,  and  austerity  of  life,  not  only  deceived  the 
vulgar,  but  many  far  above  the  vulgar,  such  as  sir  Thomaa 
More,  bishop  Fisher,  and  archbishop  Warham,  the  last  of 
whom  appointed  commissioners  to  examine  her.  She  was 
now  instructed  to  say,  in  her  counterfeit  trances,  that  the 
blessed  Virgin  had  appeared  to  her,  and  assured  her  that 
she  should,  never  recover,  till  she  went  to  visit  her  image, 
in  a  chapel  dedicated  to  her  in  the  parish  of  Aldington. 
Thither  she  accordingly  repaired,  processionally  and  in 
pilgrimage,  attended  by  above  three  thousand  people  and 
many  persons  of  quality  of  both  sexes.  There  she  fell  in-, 
to  one  of  her  trances,  and  uttered  many  things  in  honour  of 
the  saints  and  the  popish  religion ;  for  herself  she  said,  that 
by  the  inspiration  of  God  she  was  called  to  be  a  nun,  and 
that  Dr.  Bocking  was  to  be  her  ghostly  father.  This  Dr. 
Bocking  was  a  canon  of  Christ  church  in  Canterbury,  and  an 
associate  in  carrying  on  the  imposture.  In  the  mean  time 
the  archbishop  was  so  satisfied  with  the  reports  made  to 
him  about  her,  as  to  order  her  to  he  put  into  the  nunnery? 
of  St.  Sepulchre,  Canterbury,  where  she  pretended  to  have 
frequent  inspirations  and  visions,  and  also  to  work  miraclea 
for  all  such  as  would  make  a  profitable  vow  to  our  lady  at 
the  chapel  in  the  parish  of  Aldington.  Her  visions  and 
revelations  were  also  carefully  collected  and  inserted  in  a 
book,  by  a  monk  called  Deering. 
The  priests,  her  managers,  having  thus  succeeded  in  the 


BARTON.  •         73 

imposture,  now  proceeded  to  the'  great  object  of  it ;  and 
Elizabeth  Barton  was  directed  publicly  to  announce,  how 
God  had  revealed  to  her,  that  "  in  case  the  king  should 
divorce  queen  Catherine  of  Arragon,  and  take  another 
wife  during  her  life,  his  royalty  would  not  be  of  a  month's 
duration,  but  he  should  die  the  death  of  a  villain."  Bishop 
Fisher,  and  others,  in  the  interest  of  the  queen,  and  of  the 
Romish  religion,  hearing  of  this,  held  frequent  meetings 
with  the  nun  and  her  accomplices,  and  at  the  same  time 
seduced  many  persons  from  their  allegiance,  particularly 
the  fathers  and  nuns  of  Sion,  the  Charter-house,  and 
Sheen,  and  some  of  the  observants  of  Richmond,  Green- 
wich, and  Canterbury.  One  Peto,  preaching  before  the 
king  at  Greenwich,  denounced  heavy  judgments  upon  him 
to  his  face,  telling  him  that  "  he  had  been  deceived  by 
many  lying  prophets,  while  himself,  as  a"  true  Micaiah, 
warned  him  that  the  dogs  should  lick  his  blood,  as  they  had 
licked  the  blood  of  Ahab."  Henry  bore  this  outrageous 
insult  with  a  moderation  not  very  usual  with  him  ;  but,  to 
undeceive  the  people,  he  appointed  Dr.  Curwin  to  preach 
before  him  the  Sunday  following,  who  justified  the  king's 
proceedings,  and  branded  Peto  with  the  epithets  of  "  re- 
bel, slanderer,  dog,  and  traitor,"  Curwin,  however,  was 
interrupted  by  a  friar,  and  called  4(  a  lying  prophet,  who 
sought  to  establish  the  succession  to  the  crown  by  adul- 
tery;" and  proceeded  with  such  virulence,  that  the  king 
was  obliged  to  interpose,  and  command  him  to  be  silent; 
yet  though  Peto  and  the  friar  were  afterwards  summoned 
before  the  council,  they  were  only  reprimanded  for  their 
insolence. 

Encouraged  by  this  lenity  of  the  government,  the  eccle- 
siastics in  this  conspiracy  resolved  to  publish  the  revelations 
of  the  nun,  in  their  sermons,  throughout  the  kingdom ;  they 
had  Communicated  them  to  the  pope's  ambassadors,  u» 
whom  they  also  introduced  the  maid  of  Kent;  and  they  ex- 
horted queen  Catherine  to  persist  in  her  resolutions.  At 
length  this  confederacy  becoming  politically  serious,  Henry 
ordered  the  maid  and  her  accomplices  to  be  examined  in 
the  star-chamber.  Here  they  confessed  all  the  particulars 
of  the  imposture,  and  afterwards  appeared  upon  a  scaffold 
erected  at  St.  Paul's  Cross,  where  the  articles  of  therr  con- 
fession were  publicly  read  in  their  hearing.  Thence  they 
were  conveyed  to  the  Tower,  until  the  meeting  of  parlia- 
ment, when  the  whole  affair  was  pronounced  a  conspiracy 


50        •  BARTON* 

against  the  king's  life  and  crown.  The  nun,  with  her  con- 
federates, Bocking,  Deering,  &c.  were  attainted  of  high 
treason,  and  executed  at  Tyhurn,  April  20,  1534;  Eliza-* 
beth  confessed  the  imposture,  laying  the  blame  on  her 
accomplices,  the  priests,  and  craving  pardon  of  God  and 
the  king. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  historian,  Saunders,  in  his  Latin 
work  upon  certain  martyrs  for  popery,  under  Henry  VIII. 
and  Elizabeth,  would  willingly  reckon  this  nun  and  her 
people  among  them,  though  their  own  confessions  justified 
their  condemnation. l 

BARW1CK  (John),  an  eminent  English  divine,  was 
born  at  Wetherslack,  in  Westmoreland,  April  20,  1612. 
His  parents  were  not  considerable  either  for  rank  or  riches ; 
but  were  otherwise  persons  of  great  merit,  and  happy  in 
their  family.  John,  the  third  son,  was  intended  for  the 
church,  but  being  sent  to  school  in  the  neighbourhood, 
he  lost  much  time  under  masters  deficient  in  diligence 
and  learning.  At  length  he  was  sent  to  Sedberg  school, 
in  Yorkshire,  where,  under  the  care  of  a  tolerable  master, 
he  gave  early  marks  both  of  genius  and  piety.  In  the 
year  1631,  and  the  eighteenth  of  his  age,  he  was  admitted 
of  St,  John's  college*  at  Cambridge,  under  the  tuition  of 
Mr.  Thomas  Fothergill,  who  proved  at  once  a  guardian 
and  a  preceptor,  supplying  his  necessities,  as  well  as  in- 
structing him  in  learning.  By  this  help  Mr.  Barwick 
quickly  so  distinguished  himself,  that  when  a  dispute  arose 
about  the  election  of  a  master,  which  at  last  came  to  be 
heard  before  the  privy-council,  the  college  chose  Mr. 
Barwick,  then  little  above  twenty,  to  manage  for  them, 
by  which  he  not  only  became  conspicuous  in  the  univer- 
sity, but  was  also  taken  notice  of  at  court,  and  by  the 
ministry.  In  1635  he  became  B.  A.  while  these  affairs 
were  still  depending.  April  the  5th,  1636,  he  was  created 
Fellow,  without  opposition,  and  in  1638  be  took  the  de- 
gree of  M.  A.  When  the  civil  war  broke  out,  and  the 
king  wrote  a  letter  to  the  university,  acquainting  them 
that  he  was  in  extreme  want,  Mr.  Barwick  concurred  with 
those  loyal  persons,  who  first  sent  him  a  small  supply  in 
money,  and  afterwards  their  college- p!  ate,  and  upon  in- 
formation that  Cromwell,  afterwards  the   protector,  lay 

1  Biog.  Brit. — Collier's  Church  History.— More's  Life  of  sir  1*.  More,  p,  205* 
—Strype's  Xafe  of  Cnuuuer,  p.  22.    Memorials,  180—2. 


BARW1CK,  81 

with  a  party  of  foot  at  a  place  called  Lower  Hedges,  be- 
tween4 Cambridge  and  Huntington,  in  order  to  make  him- 
self master  of  this  small  treasure,  Mr.  Barwick  made  one 
of  the  party  of  horse  which  conveyed  it  through  by-roads 
safely  to  Nottingham,  where  his  majesty  had  set  up  his 
standard.     By  this  act  of  loyalty  the  parliament  was  so 
provoked,  that  they  sent  Cromwell  with  a  body  of  troops 
to  quarter  in  the  university,  where  they  committed  the 
most  brutal  outrages.     Mr.  Barwick  also  published  a  piece 
against  the  covenant,  entitled  "  Certain  Disquisitions  and 
Considerations,  representing  to  the  conscience  the  unlaw- 
fulness of  the  oath  entitled  A  Solemn  League  and  Co* 
venant  for  Reformation,  &c.  as  also  the  insufficiency  of 
the  arguments  used  in  the  exhortation  for  taking  the  said 
covenant.     Published  by  command,"  Oxford,  1644.     In 
this,  he  was  assisted  by  Messrs.  Isaac  Barrow,  Seth  Ward, 
Peter  Gunning,  and  others.     The  above  is  the  date  of  the 
second  edition,  the  first  having  been  seized  and  burnt. 
Having  by  this  time  provoked  the  men  in  power,  he  re- 
tired to  London,  and  soon  after  was  intrusted  with  the 
management  of  the  king's  most  private  concerns,  and  car* 
ried  on  with  great  secrecy  a  constant  correspondence  be- 
tween London  and  Oxford,  where  the  king's  head-quarters 
then  were,  an  employment  for  which  there  never  was  a 
man  perhaps  better  fitted.     For  with  great  modesty,  and 
a  temper  naturally  meek,  he  had  a  prudence,  sagacity, 
and  presence  of  mind.     He  lived  upon  his  first  coming  to 
town  with  Dr.  Morton,  then  bishop  of  Durham,  at  Dur- 
ham-house, which  being  an  old  spacious  building,  afforded 
him  great  conveniences  for  hiding  his  papers,  and  at  the 
same  time  his  residence  with  that  prelate  as  his  chaplain, 
countenanced  hi&remaining  in  London.    One  great  branch 
of  his  employment,  was  the  bringing  back  to  their  duty 
some  eminent  persons  who  had  been  misled  by  the  fair 
pretences  of  the  great  speakers  in  the  long  parliament. 
Amongst  those  who  were  thus  reclaimed  by  the  care  of 
this  religious  and  loyal  gentleman,  were  sir  Thomas  Mid- 
dleton  and  colonel  Roger  Pope,   both  persons  of  great 
credit  with  the  party,    and   both  very  sincere  converts. 
By  his  application,  likewise,  Mr.  Cresset  was  convinced 
of  his  errors,  and  became  an  useful  associate  in  the  dan* 
gerous  employment  of  managing  the  king's  intelligence. 
Even  after  the  king's  affairs  became  desperate,  Mr.  Bar* 
wick  still  maintained  his  correspondence ;  and  when  hi* 
Vol.  IV,  %     Q 


m  BARWI  C  K, 

majesty  was  in  the  hands  of  the  army,  had  frequent  access 
to  him,  and  received  his  verbal  orders.  To  perform  his 
duty  the  more  effectually,  he  had  the  king's  express  com- 
mand to  lay  aside  his  clerical  habit ;  and  in  the  dress  of  a 
private  gentleman,  with  his  sword  by  his  side,  he  remained 
without  suspicion  in  the  army,  and  gave  the  king  much  useful 
intelligence  ;  and  even  when  his  majesty  came  to  be  con- 
fined in  Carisbrook  castle,  in  the  closest  manner,  Mr.  Cresset, 
who  was  placed  about  him  through  the  dexterous  manage- 
ment of  Mr.  Barwick,  preserved  his  majesty  a  free  inter- 
course with  his  friends ;  for  this  purpose  he  first  deposited 
with  Mr.  Barwick  a  cypher,  and  then  hid  a  copy  of  it  in 
a  crack  of  the  wall  in  the  king's  chamber.  By  the  help 
q{  this  cypher,  the  king  both  wrote  and  read  many  letter* 
every  week,  all  of  which  passed  through  the  hands  of  Mr. 
Barwick.  He  likewise  was  concerned  in  a  well-laid  design' 
for  procuring  the  king's  escape,  which,  however,  was  un- 
luckily disappointed.  These  labours,  though  they  were 
very  fatiguing,  did  not  hinder  him  from  undertaking  still 
greater ;  for  when  Mr.  Holder,  who  had  managed  many 
correspondences  for  the  king,  was  discovered  and  impri- 
.  soned,  he  had  so  much  spirit  and  address  as  to  procure 
admittance  to,  and  a  conference  with  him,  whereby  his 
cyphers  and  papers  were  preserved,  and  Mr.  Barwick 
charged  himself  with  the  intelligence  which  that  gentle- 
man had  carried  on.  After  this  he  had  a  large  share  in 
bringing  about  the  treaty  at  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and  was 
now  so  well  known  to  all  the  loyal  party,  that  even  those" 
who  had  never  seen  him,  readily  trusted  themselves  to  hi* 
care,  in  the  most  dangerous  conjunctures.  When  the  king 
was  murdered,  and  the  royal  cause  seemed  to  be  desperate, 
Mr.  Barwick,  though  harassed  with  a  continual  cough, 
followed  by  a  spitting  of  blood,  and  afterwards  by  a  con- 
sumption of  his  lungs,  yet  would  not  interrupt  the  daily 
correspondence  he  maintained  with  the  ministers  of  king: 
Charles  II.  At  last,  when  he  was  become  very  weak, 
he  was  content  that  his  brother,  Dr.  Peter  Barwick,  should 
share  in  his  labours,  by  attending  the  post-office,  which 
he  did  for  about  six  months ;  and  then  this  office  was  de- 
volved on  Mr.  Edward  Barwick,  another  of  his  brothers. 
This,  gentleman  had  not  been  engaged ^wo  months  in  this 
perilous  business,  before  one  Bostock,  who  belonged  to 
the  post-office,  betrayed  both. him  and  Mr.  John  Barwick, 
together  with,  some  letters  which  came  from  the  kingV 


BARWICL  M 

kniuisters  abroad,  into  the  bands  of  those  who  were  then, 
possessed  of  the  government.  These  letters  were  super- 
scribed  to  Mr.  James  Van  delft,  Dutch  merchant  in  Lon- 
don, which  was  a  fictitious  name  made  use  of  to  cover 
their  correspondence.  '  Upon  his  examination,  Mr.  Bar*, 
wick  did  all  he  could  to  take  the  blame  upon  himself,  in 
order  to  free  bis  brother  Edward.  Yet  so  careful  he  was 
of  offending  against  truth,  that  he  would  not  deny  his 
knowledge  of  the  letters,  but  insisted  that  he  was  not 
bound  to  accuse  himself.  Those  who  examined  him  wer$ 
not  ashamed  to  threaten  him,  though  half  dead  with  his 
distemper,  with  putting  him  to  the  torture  if  he  did  not 
immediately  discover  all  who  were  concerned  with  him* 
To  this  Mr.  Barwick  answered  with'  great  spirit,  that  nei^ 
tber  himself,  nor  any  of  his  friends,  had  done  any  thing 
which  they  knew  to  be  repugnant  to  the  laws ;  and  if  by 
the  force  of  tortures,  which  it  was  not  likely  a  dry  and 
bloodless  carcase  like  his  would  be  able  to  bear,  any  thing 
should  be  extorted  which  might  be  prejudicial  to  others, 
such  a  confession  ought  to  go  for  nothing.  Mr.  Edward 
Barwick  behaved  with  the  like  firmness,  so  that  not  so 
much  as  one  person  fell  into  trouble  .through  their  mis- 
fortune ;  and  as  for  Mr.  John  Barwick,  he  had  the  presence 
of  mind  to  burn  his  cyphers  and  other  papers  before  thoso 
who  apprehended  him  could  break  open  his  door.  This 
extraordinary  fortitude  and  circumspection  so  irritated 
president  Bradshaw,  sir  Henry  Mildmay,  and  others  of  the 
council  who  examined  them,  that,  by  a  warrant  dated  tho 
9th  of  April  1650,  they  committed  both  the  brothers  to 
the  Gate-house,  where  they  were  most  cruelly  treated,  and 
three  days  afterwards  committed  Mr.  John  Barwick  to  the 
Tower.  The  reason  they  assigned  for  this  change  of  his 
prison  was,  that  he  might  be  nearer  to  the  rack,  assuring 
him  that  in  a  few  days  they  would  name  commissioners  to 
examine  him,  who  should  have  that  engine  for  their  se* 
cretary.  Mr.  Francis  West,  who  was  then  lieutenant  of 
the  Tower,  put  him  in  a  dungeon  >vhere  he  was  kept  from 
pen,  ink,  and  paper,  and  books,  with  restraint  from 
seeing  any  person  except  his  keepers ;  and,  as  aii  addi- 
tional punishment^  had  boards  nailed  before  his  window  to 
exclude  the  fresh  air.  In  this  melancholy  situation  he 
remained  many  months,  during  which  time  the  diet  he 
used  was  herbs  or  fruit,  or  thin  water-gruel,  made  of  oat- 
taeal  or  barley,  with  currants  boiled  in  it,  and  sweetened 


U  WARWICK. 

with  a  little  sugar,  by  which  he  recovered  beyond  all  ex- 
pectation, and  grew  plump  and  fat.  A  cure  so  perfect, 
and  so  strange,  that  Dr.  Cheyne,  and  other  physicians 
Have  taken  notice  of  it  in  their  writings  as  a  striking 
instance  of  the  power  of  temperance,  even  in  the  most 
inveterate  diseases.  While  he  was  thus  shut  up,  his  friends 
laboured  incessantly  for  his  service  and  relief,  and  his 
majesty  king  Charles  II.  for  whom  he  thus  suffered,  gave 
the  highest  testimonies  of  his  royal  concern  for  so  faithful 
a  subject.  After  fifteen  months  passed  in  confinement, 
Mr.  Otway,  and  some  other  friends,  procured  a  warrant 
from  president  Bradshaw  to  visit  him,  who  were  not  a  little 
Surprised  to  find  him  in  so  good  health,  whom  they  had 
seen  brought  so  low,  as  to  engage  this  very  Mr.  Otway  to 
take  care  of  his  burial.  His  prudence  and  patience  under 
this  persecution  was  so  great,  that  they  had  a  happy  effect 
on  all  who  came  about  him.  Robert  Brown,  who  was  de- 
puty lieutenant  of  the  Tower,  became  first  exceeding  civil 
to  him,  and  afterwards  his  convert,  so  as  to  have  his  child 
baptized  by  him  ;  and,  which  was  a  still  stronger  proof 
of  his  sincerity,  he  quitted  the  very  profitable  post  he 
held,  and  returned  to  his  business,  that  of  a  cabinet-maker. 
Nay,  Mr.  West,  the  lieutenant  of  the  Tower,  who  treated 
him  so  harshly  at  his  entrance,  abated  by  degrees  of  this, 
rigour,  and  became  at  l&st  so  much  softened,  that  he  was 
as  ready  to  do  him  all  offices  of  humanity,  removing  him 
out  of  a  noisome  dungeon  into  a  handsome  chamber,  where 
he  might  enjoy  freer  air,  and  sometimes  even  the  com- 
pany of  his  friends.  He  likewise  made  assiduous  appli- 
cation to  the  council  of  state,  that  while  Mr.  Warwick 
remained  in  the  Tower,  he  might  have  an  allowance  granted 
him  for  his  subsistence ;  and  when  he  could  not  prevail, 
he  supplied  him  from  his  own  table.  Indeed,  after  two 
years  confinement,  the  commonwealth  did  think  fit  to 
allow  him  five  shillings  a  week,  which  he  received  for 
about  four  months.  Then,  through  the  same  friendly  in- 
tercession of  Mr.  West,  he  was  discharged  on  the  7th  of 
August,  1652,  but  upon  giving  security  to  appear  at  any 
time  within  a  twelve-month  before  the  council  of  state. 
He  then  visited  his  old  patron,  the  bishop  of  Durham, 
his  aged  parents,  and  the  incomparable  lady  Savile ;  but 
the  place  he  chose  for  his  residence  was  the  house  of  sir 
Thomas  Eversfield,  of  Sussex,  a  man  of  great  integrity 
as  well  as  learning,  with  whom  he  lived  for  many  months. 


BARWICK, 


$5 


After  the  expiration  of  the  year,  to  which  the  recognizance 
entered  into  by  himself  and  his  friends,  Mr.  Thomas  Roy- 
•ton,  student  of  Gray's-inn,  and  Mr.  Richard  Royston,  of 
London,  bookseller,  extended,  he  began  to  think  of  get- 
ting up  his  bond,  and  entering  agafin  into  the  king's  service. 
With  this  view  he  found  it  expedient  to  pay  a  visit  to 
president  Bradshaw,  who,  as  he  had  now  quarrelled  with 
Cromwell,  received  him  civilly,  and  told  him  he  probably 
would  hear  no  more  of  his  recognizance.     On  this  assu- 
rance, he  began  to  enter  again  into  business,  and  drew 
over  several  considerable  persons,  such  as  colonel  John 
Clobery,    colonel   Daniel'  Redman,    and    colonel  Robert 
Venables,  to  the  king's  service,  with  whom  he  conferred 
on  several  schemes  for  restoring  monarchy,  in  all  which 
they  were  long  disappointed  by  Cromwell.     His  friend, 
sir  Thomas  Eversfield,  dying,  and  his  widow  retiring  to 
the  bouse  of  her  brother,  sir  Thomas  Middleton,  at  Chirk 
castle,   in  Denbighshire,    Dr.  Barwick  accompanied  her 
thither,  and  remained  for  some  time  with  sir  Thomas,  who 
was  his  old  friend.     His  own  and  the  king's  affairs  calling 
him  back  to  London,  he  lived  with  his  brother,  Dr.  Pet^r 
Barwick,  in  St.  Paul's  Church-yard,  and  there  managed 
the  greatest  part  of  the  king's  correspondence,  with  as 
much  care,  secrecy,  arid  success  as  ever.     While  he  was 
thus  engaged,  he  received  some  interruption  by  the  re- 
vival of  that  old  calumny  on  the  church  of  England,  th* 
Nag's  head  ordination,  to  which  he  furnished  bishop  Bram- 
hall  with  the  materials  for  a  conclusive  answer.     His  mo- 
desty and  private  way  of  living  preserved  him  from  much 
notice,  even  in  those  prying  times ;  and  yet,  when  proper 
occasions  called  for  more  open  testimonies  of  his  principles, 
Mr.  Barwick  did  not  decline  professing  them,  as  appeared 
by  his  assisting  Dr.  John  Hewet,  while  in  prison  for  a 
plot  against  Cromwell,  and  even  on  the  scaffold,  when  he 
lost  his  head.     By  the  death  of  this  gentleman,  bis  branch 
of  intelligence,  and  the  care  of  conveying  some  hundred 
pounds  which  he  had  collected  for  the  king's  use,  devolved 
upon  Mr.  Barwick ;  who,  though  he  had  already  so  much 
upon  his  hands,  readily  undertook,  and  happily  performed 
it.     The  concern  Mr,  Barwick  had  for  the  king  and  for 
the  state,  did  not  hinder  him  from  attending,  when  he 
was  called  thereto,  the  business  of  the  church,  in  which, 
however,  he  had  a  very  worthy  associate,    Mr.  Richard 
JUlestrey,  who  took  the  most  troublesome  part  on  himself. 


86  BARWICK, 

by  performing  several  dangerous  joumies  into  Flanders,  la 
order  to  receive  the  king's  commands  by  word  of  mouth. 
In  the  rising  of  sir  George  Booth,  he  had  a  principal  con* 
cern  in  the  managing  of  the  design,  and  in  providing  for 
the  safety  of  such  as  escaped  after  it  miscarried.     Not  long 
after  he  narrowly  missed  a  new  imprisonment,   through 
the  treachery  of  some  who  were  intrusted  by  the  king's 
ministers:    for   by  their   intelligence,    Mr.  Ailestrey  was 
seized  as  soon  as  he  landed  at  Dover,  and  one  of  Mf. 
Barwick's  letters  intercepted,  but  it  is  supposed  to  have 
been  imperfectly  decyphered.     In  the  midst  of  these  diffi- 
culties died  the  good  old  bishop  of  Durham,  whom  Mr.  Bar*- 
'wick  piously  assisted   in  his  last  moments,  preached  his 
funeral  sermon,  and  afterwards  wrote  his  life,  which  he 
dedicated  to  the  king.     All  the  hopes  that  now  remained 
.of  a  restoration  rested  upon  general  Monk,  and  though 
Mr.  Barwick  had  no  direct  correspondence  wifh  him,  yet 
he  furnished  him  with  very  important  assistance  in  that 
arduous  affair.     After  there  seemed  to  be  no  longer  any 
doubt  of  the  king's  return,  Mr.  Barwick  was  sent  over  by 
ihe  bishops  to  represent  the  state  of  ecclesiastical  affairs, 
and  was  received  by.  his  majesty  with  cordial  affection, 
preached  before  him  the  Sunday  after  his  arrival,  and  was 
immediately  appointed  one  of  his  chaplains.     Yet  these 
extraordinary  marks  of  the  king's  favour  never  induced 
him  to  make  any  request  for  himself,  though  he  did  not 
let  slip  so  fair  an  opportunity  of  recommending  effectually 
several  of  his  friends,  and  procuring  for  them  an  acknow- 
ledgment suitable  to  each  of  their  services.     On  his  return 
he  visited  the  university  of  Cambridge,  where  he  very  ge- 
nerously relinquished  his  right  to  his  fellowship,  in  favour 
'  of  an  intruder,  because  he  had  the  reputation  of  being  a 
young  man  of  learning  and  probity.     Before  he  left  the 
university,  he  took  the  degree  of  D.  D.  upon  which  oc- 
casion he  performed  his  exercise,  merely  to  support  the 
discipline  of  the  university.     The  thesis  on  this  occasion 
was  very  singular,  viz.  That  the  method  of  imposing  pe- 
nance,   and  restoring  penitents  in  the  primitive  church 
was  a  godly  discipline,  and  that  it  is  much  to  be  wished  it 
was  restored.     Th?  Latin  disputation  upon  this  question 
lias  been  preserved,  and  it  was  chiefly  for  the  sake  of  in- 
'  serting  it>  that  Dr.  Peter  Barwick  composed  his  brother's 
;  life  in  Latin.     When  the  church  of  England  was  restore^ 
*-  f>y  king  Charles  II.  the  deans  and  chapters  revived,  Df, 


BAEWrCK;  st 

Barwick,  according  to  his  usual  modesty,  contented  him* 
self  with  recommending  his  tutor,  old  Mr.  Fothergill,  to 
a  prebend  in  the  cathedral  church  of  York;   but  as  to 
himself,  he  would  have  rested  content  with  the  provision 
made  for  him  by  his  late  patron,  the  bishop  of  Durham, 
who  had  given  him  the  fourth  stall  in  his  cathedral,  and 
.the  rectories  of  Wolsingbam,  and  Houghton  in  le  Spring ; 
and  used  to  say  that  he  had  too  much.     Among  other  ex- 
traordinary offices   to  which  he  was  called  at  this  busy 
time,  one  was  to  visit  Hugh  Peters,  in  order  to  draw  from 
him  some  account  of  the  person  who  actually  cut  off  the 
head  of  king  Charles  I. ;  but  in  this  neither  he  nor  Dr.  Dol- 
ben,  his  associate,  had  any  success.  Before  the  restoration 
there   had  been  a   design  of  consecrating  Dr.  Barwick, 
bishop  of  Man  ;  but  the  countess  of  Derby  desiring  to 
prefer  her  chaplain,  the  king,  of  his  own  motive,  would 
have   promoted  him  to  the  see  of   Carlisle,    which  the 
doctor  steadily  refused,  that  the  world  might  not  imagine 
the  extraordinary  zeal  he  had  shewn  for  episcopacy  flowed 
from  any  secret  hope  of  his  one  day  being  a    bishop* 
Upon  this  he  was  promoted  to  the  deanery  of  Durham, 
with  which  he  kept  the  rectory  of  Houghton.     He  took 
possession  of  his  deanery  on  the  feast  of  All  Saints,  1660, 
and  as  he  enjoyed  a  large  revenue,  be  employed  it  in  re- 
pairing public  buildings,  relieving  the  poor,  and  keeping 
up  great  hospitality,  both  at  the  house  of  his  deanery  an4 
at  Houghton.     But  before  the  year  was  out,,  he  was  called 
from  these  cares,  in  which  hg  would  willingly  have  spent 
his  whole  life,  by  his  being  made  dean  of  St.  Paul's,  a 
preferment  less  in  value,  and  attended  with  much  more 
trouble  than  that  he  already  possessed.     As  soon  as  he  had 
done  this,  he  put  an  end  to  all  granting  of  leases,  even 
where  he  had  agreed  for  the  fine  with  the  tenants,  and  did 
many  other  things  for  the  benefit  of  his  successor,  wnich 
shewed  his  contempt  of  secular  advantages,  and  his  sin- 
cere concern  for  the  rights  of  the  church.     He  took  posr 
session  of  the  deanery  of  St.  Paul's,  about  the   middle  of 
October,  J 661,  and  found,  as  he  expected,  all  in  very 
great  disorder  with  respect 'to  the  church  itself,  and  every 
thing  that  concerned  it.     He  set  about  reforming  these 
abuses  with  a  truly  primitive  spirit,  and  prosecuted  with 
great  vigour  the  recovery  of  such  revenues  as  in  the  late 
times  of  distraction  had  been  alienated  from  the  church $ 
though  with  respect  tp  bis  own  particular  concern?  he  was 


at  BARWIC  Kr 

never  rigid  to  any  body,  but  frequently  gave  up  things  to 
/which  he  had  a  clear  title.  By  bis  interest  with  his  ma- 
jesty he  obtained  two  royal  grants  under  the  great  seal  of 
England,  one  for  the  repair  of  the  cathedral,  the  other 
for  enumerating  and  securing  its  privileges.  In  this  re* 
spect  he  was  so  tender,  that  he  would  not  permit  the  lord 
mayor  of  London  to  erect  there  a  seat  for  himself  at  the 
expence  of  the  city,  but  insisted  that  it  should  be  done  at 
the  charge  of  the  church.  Towards  the  repairing  the  ca- 
thedral, he,  together  with  the  residentiaries,  gave  the 
rents  of  the  houses  in  St.  Paul's  Church-yard  as  a  settled 
fund,  besides  which  they  advanced  each  of  them  500/.  a 
piece,  and,  in  many  other  respects,  he  demonstrated  that 
neither  the  love  of  preferment,  nor  the  desire  of  wealth, 
bad  any  share  in  his  acceptance  of  this  dignity.  He  was 
next  appointed  one  of  the  nine  assistants  to  the  twelve 
bishops  commissioned  to  hold  a  conference  with  the  like 
number  of  presbyterian  ministers  upon  the  review  of  the 
liturgy,  usually  called  the  Savoy  conference,  because  held 
at  the  bishop  of  London's  lodgings  in  the  Savoy.  He 
was  also,  by  the  unanimous  suffrage  of  all  the  clergy  of  the 
province  of  Canterbury  assembled  in  convocation,  chosen 
prolocutor  on  the  18th  of  February,  1661  ;  in  which  office 
he  added  to  the  reputation  he  had  before  acquired.  His 
application,  however,  to  the  discharge  of  so  many  and  so 
great  duties  brought  upon  him  his  old  distemper,  so  that 
in  November*  1662,  he  was  confined  to  his  chanrfber:  he 
heightened  his  disease  by  officiating  at  the  sacrament  the 
Christmas-day  following,  after  which  he  was  seized  with 
a  violent  vomiting  of  blood.  Upon  this  he  was  ad- 
vised to  a  change  of  air,  and  retired  to  Therfield  in  Hert- 
fordshire, of  which  he  was  rector,  but  finding  himself 
there  too  far  from  London,  he  returned  to  Chiswick,  where 
he  in  some  measure  recovered  his  health.  As  soon  as  he 
found  he  had  a  little  strength,  he  applied  himself  there  to 
the  putting  in  order  the  archives  of  St.  Paul's  church,  but 
this  return  of  active  employment  was  followed  by  an  ex- 
traordinary flux  of  blood,  which  rendered  him  very  weak, 
and  defeated  his  favourite  design  of  retiring  to  Therfield. 
When  he  first  found  his  health  declining,  he  made  choice 
of  and  procured  this  living,  intending  to  have  resigned 
his  deanery  and  office  of  prolocutor,  to  those  who  had 
vigour  enough  to  discharge  them,  and  to  spend  the  re- 
mainder of  his  days  in  the  discharge  of  his  pastoral  office, 


B  A  R  W  I  C  K.  69 

/ 

( 

to  which  he  thought  himself  bound  by  his  taking  orders. 
But  coming  upon  some  extraordinary  occasion  to  London, 
he  was  seized  with  a  pleurisy,  which  carried  him  off  in 
three  days.  He  was  attended  in  his  last  moments  by  Dr. 
Peter  Gunning,  afterwards  bishop  of  Ely,  and  as  he  lived, 
so  he  died,  with  all  the  marks  of  an  exemplary  piety,  on 
the  22d  of  October,  1664,  after  he  had  struggled  almost 
twelve  years  with  this  grievous  distemper.  By  his  will  he 
bequeathed  the  greatest  part  of  his  estate  to  charitable 
uses,* and  this  with  a  judgment  equal  to  his  piety.  His 
body  was  interred  in  the  cathedral  of  St.  Paul's,  with  an 
epitaph  composed  by  Mr.  Samuel  Howlet.  The  character 
of  Mr.  Barwick  may  be  easily  collected  from  the  preceding 
sketch,  but  is  more  fully  illustrated, in  his  life  published  by 
Dr.  Peter  Barwick,  a  work  of  great  interest  and  amuse- 
ment His  printed  works  are  very  few.  Besides  the  tract 
on  the  covenant,  before  mentioned,  we  have  only  his 
"  Life  of  Thomas  Morton,  bishop  of  Durham,  and  a  fu- 
neral sermon,"  1660,  4to;  and  "Deceivers  deceived,"  a 
sermon  at  St.  Paul's,  Oct.  20,  1661,"  1661,  4to.  Many 
of  his  letters  to  chancellor  Hyde  are  among  Thurloe's  State 
Papers.  * 

BARWICK  (Peter),  physician  in  ordinary  to  king 
Charles  II.  was  brother  to  the  preceding,  and  born  in  1619,  fc 
at  Wetherslack  in  Westmoreland.  From  the  same  gram- 
mar-school as  his  elder  brother,  he  removed  to  St.  John's 
college  in  Cambridge  in  1637,  and  continued  there  about 
six  years.  In  1642,  being  then  in  the  twenty-fourth  year 
of  hjs  age,  he  took  his  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts.  In  1 644, 
he  was  nominated  by  the  bishop  of  Ely,  to  a  fellowship  of 
St.  John's,  in  his  gift,  but  the  usurper  being  then  in  power, 
he  never  availed  himself  of  it.  Probably,  indeed,  he  had 
left  the  college  before  he  obtained  this  presentatiop,  and 
perhaps  about  the  same  time  his  brother  did,  which  was  in 
the  foregoing  year.  It  is  uncertain,  whether,  at  that  time, 
he  had  made  any  choice  of  a  profession;  so  that  being 
invited  into  Leicestershire,  in  order  to  become  tutor 
to  Ferdinando  Sacheverell,  esq.  of  Old  Hayes  in  that 
county,  a  young  gentleman  of  great  hopes,  he  readily  ac- 
cepted the  proposal,  and  continued  with  him  for  some 
time.     In  1647,  he  returned  to  Cambridge,  and  took  his 

1  Biog.  Brit — Life  by  Dr.  Peter  Barwick,  Lat.  and  English ;  the  English, 
translation  by  Hilkiah  Bedford,  with  a»n§  curioua  and  useful  notes. 


#0  BARWICK. 

degree  of  master  of  arts,  applying  himself  then  assiduously 
to  the  study  of  physic,  and  about  the  same  time,  Mr.  Sache- 
verelLdied,  and  bequeathed  our  author  an  annuity  of 
♦twenty  pounds.  How  he  disposed  of  himself  for  some 
3rears,  does  not  very  clearly  appear,  because  he  who  so 
elegantly  recorded  the  loyal  services  of  his  brother,  has 
studiously  concealed  his  own.  It  is,  however,  more  than 
probable,  that  he  was  engaged  in  the  service  of  his  sove« 
*eign,  since  it  is  certain  that  he  was  at  Worcester  in  1651, 
'where  he  had  access  to  his  royal  master  king  Charles  II. 
who  testified  to  him  a  very  kind  sense  of  the  fidelity  of  hi* 
family.  In  1655,  he  was  created  doctor  of  physic,  and  two 
years  afterwards,  he  took  a  house  in  St.  Paul's  church-yard, 
and  much  about  the  same  time,  married  the  widow  of  Mr. 
8ayon,  an  eminent  merchant.  Being  thus  settled,  he  soon 
gained  a  very  great  repute  in  the  city,  for  his  skill  in  his 
profession,  and  among  the  learned,  by  his  judicious  de- 
fence of  Dr.  Harvey's,  discovery  of  the  Circulation  of  the 
Blood,  which  was  then,  and  is  still,  admired  as  one  of  the 
best  pieces  written  ppon  that  subject.  At  this  house  he 
entertained  his  brother  Dr.  John  Barwick,  who  repaired  at 
his  own  expence  an  oratory  he  found  there,  and  daily  readl 
the  service  of  the  established  church,  and  with  a  few  steady 
.royalists,  prayed  for  his  exiled  master.  After  the  restora-n 
tion  in  1 660,  he  was  made  one  of  the  king's  physicians  in 
ordinary,  and  in  the  year  following,  received  a  still  stronger 
proof  of  his  majesty's  kind  sense  of  his  own  and  his  brother's 
services  by  a  grant  of  arms  expressive  of  their  loyalty.  In 
1666,  being  compelled  by  the  dreadful  fire  to  remove  from 
St.  Paul's  church  yard,  where,  much  to  his  honour,  he 
was  one  of  the  few  physicians  who  remained  all  the  time  of 
the  plague,  and  was  very  active  and  serviceable  in  his 
profession,  he  took  another  house  near  Westminster-abbey, 
for  the  sake  of  being  near  that  cathedral,  to  which  he  con- 
stantly resorted  every  morning  at  six  o'clock  prayers.  He 
was  a  very  diligent  physician,  and  remarkably  successful 
in  the  small-pox,  and  in  most;  kinds  of  fevers.  Yet  he  was 
far  from  making  money  the  main  object  of  his  care;  for 
during  the  many  years  that  he  practised,  he  not  only  gave 
advice  and  medicines  gratis  to  the  poor,  but  likewise  cha- 
ritably administered  to  their  wants  in  other  respects.  In 
1671,  he  drew  up  in  Latin,  which  he  wrote  with  unusual 
elegance  and  purity,  the  life  of  the  dean  his  brother,  an£ 
took  care  to  deposit  it,  an8  the  original  papers  serving  tQ 


BARW  I'C  K.  91 

Support  the  facts  mentioned,  in  the  library  in  St.  John's 
college  at  Cambridge.  Another  MS.  he  gave  to  Dr.  Wood- 
ward, and  one  he  left  to  his  family.  Twenty  years  after 
this,  when  our  author  was  in  the  seventy-fourth  year  of  his 
age,  and  his  eye-sight  so  much  decayed,  that  he  was 
forced  to  make  use  of  the  hand  of  a  friend,  he  added  an 
appendix  in  defence  of  the  Eixiv  IWim*^,  against  Dr.  Wal- 
ker, who  was  very  well  known  to  him,  and  of  whom  in  that 
treatise  he  has  given  a  very  copious  account.  This  piece 
of  his  is  written  with  a  good  deal  of  asperity,  occasioned 
chiefly  by  the  frequency  of  scurrilous  libels  against  the 
memory  of  Charles  I.  In  1694,  being  quite  blind,  and 
frequently  afflicted  with  fits  of  the  stone,  he  gave  over 
practice,  and  dedicated  the  remainder  of  his  life  to  the 
service  of  God,  and  the  conversation  of  a  few  intimate 
friends,  amongst  whom  was  Dr.  Busby,  the  celebrated 
master  of  Westminster-school.  He  died  Sept.  4,  the  same 
year,  in  the  eigbty-sixth  year  of  his  age,  and  by  his  own 
direction,  was  interred  without  any  monument,  as  well  as 
■with  great  privacy,  near  the  body  of  his  dear  wife,  in  the 
parish  church  of  St.  Faith's,  under  St.  Paul's.  He  was  a 
man  of  a  very  comely  person,  equally  remarkable  for  the 
•solidity  of  his  learning,  and  for  a  wonderful  readiness  as 
well  as  elegance  in  expressing  it.  His  piety  was  sincere* 
his  reputation  unspotted,  his  loyalty  and  his  modesty 
most  exemplary.  In  all  Stations  of  life  he  was  ad- 
mired and  beloved,  and  of  a  chearful  and  serene  mind  in 
all  situations.  He  was  happy  in  the  universal  approbation 
of  all  parties,  as  he  was  himself  charitable  to  all,  and  never 
Tenement  but  in  the  cause  of  truth.  He  left  behind  him 
*an  only  daughter,  Mary,  who  married  sir  Ralph  Button 
of  Sherbournein  Dorsetshire,  bart.  The  life  of  his  brother 
was  published,  in  Latin,  1721,  8vo,  and  in  English,  with  an 
account  of  the  writer,  1724.  Mr.  Hilkiah  Bedford  was 
editor  of  both. J 

BASEDOW  (John  Bernard),  an  author  of  some  merit 
pn  the  subject  of  education,  was  born  at  Hamburgh  in 
1723.  His  father  appears  to  have  been  a  person  of  a  rigid 
temper,  and  so  frequent  in  correcting  his  son  with  severity, 
as  to  drive  him  from  home  for  a  time,  during  which  the 
boy  served  as  a  domestic  in  the  house  of  a  land-surveyor  at 
Hoi  stein.     Being,  however,  persuaded  to  return,  he  was 

.  *  #iof.  9rit.-*Pr«fa<*  to  i)ie  SaglUh  translation  of  tjit  Life  qf  dtap  Harwich 


%t  BASEDOW. 

placed  at  the  public  school  at  Hamburgh,  where  he  made 
himself  respected  by  his  talents,  and  the  aid  he  was  enabled 
•to  give  to  his  indolent  schoolfellows.     When  advanced  to 
the  higher  class,  he  attended  the  lectures   of  professors 
itichey  and  Reitnarus,  from  whose  instructions,  particularly 
those  of  Reimarus,  he  derived  great  improvement :  but  he 
afterwards  allowed  that  he  did  not  pay  a  regular  attention 
to  the  sciences,  and  passed  much  of  his  time  with  indolent 
and  dissolute  companions.     He  had  little  disposition  for 
study,  and  remained  for  some  time  undetermined  in  the 
choice  of  a  profession.     His  father  was  ambitious  that  he 
should  be  a  clergyman,  and  the  means  being  provided,  he 
went  to  Leipsic  in  1744,  to  prosecute  his  studies  particu- 
larly in  theology.     Here  he  continued  for  two  years,  at- 
tending the  lectures  of  professor  Crusius,  who  had  begun 
to  philosophize  on  religion ;  and  these  lectures,  with  the 
writings  of  Wolf,  to  which  he  also  applied,  induced  a 
sceptical  disposition,  which  more  or  less  prevailed  in  all  his 
writings  and  opinions  during  his  life.     In   1749,  he  was 
appointed  private  tutor  to  the  son  of  a  gentleman  at  Hol- 
stein,  and  this  situation  gave  him  an  opportunity  of  bring- 
ing to  the  test  of  experience,  the  plan  of  an  improved  me- 
thod of  education,  which  he  bad,  for  some  time,  in  con- 
templation.    The  attempt  succeeded  to   his  wishes,  and 
his  pupil,  who  was  only  seven  years  old,  when  put  under 
-him,  and  could  merely  read  the  German  language,  became 
able  in  the  space  of  three  years,  not  only  to  read  Latin 
authors,  but  to  translate  from  the  German  into  that  lan- 
guage, and  also  to  speak  and  write  it  with  a  degree  of 
fluency.     The  young  gentleman  had  also  made  consider- 
able progress  in  the  principles  of  religion  and  morals,  in 
history,  geography,  and  arithmetic. 

In  1753,  Basedow  was  chosen  professor  of  moral  philo- 
sophy and  belles  lettres  at  the  university,  of  Sorde,  where 
he  enjoyed  further  opportunities  of  pursuing. his  favourite 
object.  While  in  this  station,  he  published  several  worka 
which  were  well  received,  particularly  a  treatise  on  pracr 
tical  philosophy,  for  all  classes,  in  which  the  particulars  of 
Jiis  plan  are  fully  explained ;  and  a  grammar  of  the  Ger- 
man language.  From  Sorde, .  he  was  nominated  to  a  pro- 
fessorship at  Altona,  and  now  employed  his  leisure  hours 
in  communicating  to  the  tforid  the  result  of  his  theological 
studies,  but  the  world  was  so  little  prepared  to  forsake  the 
principles  of  their  forefathers,  that  he  met  with  the  most 


BASEDOW.  W 

strenuous  opposition  from  every  quarter.  Among  his 
most  distinguished  opponents  were  the  rev.  Messrs.  Gosse, 
Winkler,  and  Zimmerman,  who  represented  his  doctrines 
as  hostile  to  religion  and  morals,  while  the  magistrates 
prohibited  the  publishing  and  reading  of  his  works,  and  the 
populace  were  ready  to  attack  his  person.  His  biographer 
praises  the  firmness  with  which  he  supported  all  this,  re- 
joicing in  the  hopes,  that  Germany  would  one  day  be  en- 
lightened with  his  doctrines,  and  these  hopes  have  certain- 
ly been  in  a  considerable  degree  realized.  The  rest  of  his 
life  appears  to  have  been  spent  in  controversies  with  his 
opponents,  and  in  endeavours  to  establish  public  schools  of 
instruction  on  his  new  plan,  in  all  which  he  met  with  some 
encouragement  from  men  of  rank  and  influence,  but  not 
sufficient  to  enable  him  to  carry  any  of  his  plans  into  exe- 
cution. With  respect  to  his  scheme  of  education,  if  we 
may  judge  from  the  outline  in  our  authority,  there  was 
nothing  of  mystery  or  invention  in  it.  He  entertained 
the  idea  that  the  compulsive  methods,  so  generally  adopt- 
ed, are  calculated  to  retard  the  progress  of  improvement, 
while  the  pupil  was  under  the  care  of  his  tutor,  and 
to  give  him  a  disgust  for  learning  after  he  has  escaped  from 
the  rod,  and  said  that  early  education  is,  in  some  cases,  of 
too  abstracted  a  nature ;  and,  in  others,  that  it  is  confined 
merely  to  words  as  preparatory  to  the  knowledge  of  things ; 
while,  in  reality,  the  useful  knowledge  of  things  ought  to 
be  made  preparatory  to  the  knowledge  of  words.  Con- 
formably to  this  idea,  he  attempted  to  adapt  every  branch 
of  science  to  the  capacity  of  his  scholars,  by  making  judg- 
ment keep  pace  with  memory,  and  by  introducing  them  to 
an  engaging  familiarity  with  the  objects  of  pursuit.  Thisr 
he  attempted  to  effect,  by  the  invention,  due  arrangement, 
and  familar  explanation  of  figures  and  prints,  of  which 
young  minds  are  naturally  fond  ;  and  by  means  of  which, 
they  have  a  more  perfect  impression  of  an  object  than  the 
most  elaborate  description  could  possibly  give.  For  those 
who  were  further  advanced,  he  called  in  the  aid  of  different 
species  of  mechanism,  and  different  models,  by  means  of 
which  the  pupil  might  form  precise  ideas,  obtain  accurate 
knowledge,  and,  in  some  instances,  acquire  address  in  a 
manner  correspondent  with  that  love  of  active  amusements 
which  characterizes  youth. 

After  many  unsuccessful  efforts  to  establish  a  school 
which  he  called  his  "  Philanthropinum,"  he  finally  reiin- 


$4.  BASEDOW 

quished  it,  owing  to  quarrels  among  the  teachers,  which? 
afforded  no  very  striking  proof  of  the  superior  excellenee 
of  his  system.  He  then  endeavoured  to  find  relief  in  the 
bottle,  and  this  hurried  him  into  a  train  of  conduct  which, 
completed  the  destruction  of  his  reputation.  He  died  at 
Magdeburg  h  in  1790.  His  works  on  religious  subjects  are 
very  numerous,  but  little  known  out  of  Germany. ! 

BASIL  (St.)  surnamed  The  CTitpAT,  on  account  of  his 
learning  and  piety,  was  born  at  Caesarea  in  Cappadocia,  in  . 
the  year  326.  He  received  the  first  part  of  his  education 
under  his  father.  He  went  afterwards  and  studied  under 
the  famous  Libanius  at  Antiochia  and  Constantinople,  and 
from  thence  to  Athens,  where  he  met  with  Gregory  Na- 
zianzen,  with  whom  he  had  a  very  cordial  intimacy.  After, 
finishing  his  studies,  he  returned  to  his  native  country  in 
the  year  355,  arid  taught  rhetoric.  Some  time  after  he 
travelled  into  Syria,  Egypt,  and  Libya,  to  visit  the  monas-. 
teries  of  these  countries ;  and  the  monastic  life  so  much 
suited  his  disposition,  that  upon  his  return  home  he  resolved 
to  follow  it,  and  became  the  first  institutor  of  it  in  Pontus 
and  Cappadocia.  Eusebius  bishop  of  Caesarea  conferred 
the  order  of  priesthood  upon  Basil,  who  soon  after  retired 
into  his  solitude,  having  had  some  misunderstanding  with 
his  bishop ;  but  he  came  to  a  reconciliation  with  him  about; 
three  years  after,  and  his  reputation  was  at  length  so  great, 
that,  upon  the  death  of  Eusebius,  in  the  year  370,  he  was 
chosen  his  successor.  It  was  with  some  difficulty  that  he 
accepted  of  this  dignity ;  and  no  sooner  was  he  raised  to: 
it,  than  the  emperor  Valens  began  to  persecute  him  because 
he  refused  to  embrace  the  doctrine  of  the  Arians.  Valen* 
came  twice  to  Caesarea,  and  finding  he  was  not  able  to  in- 
fluence Basil,  resolved  to  banish  him  from  that  place.  He 
ceased  at  length,  however,  to  molest  Basil,  who  now  began 
to  use  his  utmost  endeavours  to  bring  about  a  re- union  be-* 
twixt  the  eastern  and  western  churches,  then  much  divided 
about  some  points  of  faith,  and  in  regard  to  Meletius  and 
Paulinus,  two  bishops  of  Antioch.  The  western  churches 
acknowledged  Paulinus  for  the  lawful  bishop,  and  would 
have  no  communion  with  Meletius,  who  was  supported  by 
the  eastern  churches-  But  all  his  efforts  were  ineffectual, 
this  dispute  not  being  terminated  till  nine  months  after  hi* 

*  Biog.  Anecdotes  of  Basedow,  published  at  Magdeburgh,  1791,  arid  abridged 
ia  the  Month.  Rev.  rot.  VII.  N.  sAsaxii  Oabtaasticofi,  vol.  VIII* 

I 


basil:  *  MP 

death.  Basil  was  likewise  engaged  in  some  contests  re* 
lating  to  the  division  the  emperor  had  made  of  Cappadocia 
into  two  provinces.  Anthinius,  bishop  of  Tayane,  the 
metropolis  of  the  new  province,  was  desirous  to  extend 
his  limits,  which  Basil  opposed.  They  contested  chiefly 
about  a  little  village  named  Zazime.  Basil,  in  order  to 
preserve  it  in  his  jurisdiction,  erected  a  bishopric,  and 
gave  it  to  his  friend  Gregory  of  Nazianzen,  but  Anthimus 
took  possession  before  him ;  and  Gregory,  who  loved 
peace,  retired  from  thence.  Basil  had  also  some  disputes 
with  Eustathius,  and  was  engaged  in  most  of  the  contro- 
versies of  his  age.  Calumny,  malice,  and  the  domineering 
power  of  Arianism  afflicted  him  with  various  trials,  in  which 
his  patience  was  unwearied ;  and  as  his  body  became  en* 
feebled  by  increasing  distempers,  his  mind  seems  to  have 
collected  more  vigour.  Finding  himself  rapidly  declining, 
after  he  had  governed  the  church  of  Cacsarea  eight  years 
and  some  months,  he  ordained  some  of  his  followers,  and 
was  then  obliged  to  take  to  his  bed.  The  people  flocked 
about  his  house,  sensible  of  the  value  of  such  a  pastor. 
For  a  time  he  discoursed  piously  to  those  about  him,  and 
sealed  his  last  breath  with  the  ejaculation,  "  Into  thy  hands 
I  commend  my  spirit.'1  He  died  in  the  year  379.  By 
studying  the  works  of  Origen,  he  contracted  a  taste  for 
exposition  by  no  means  very  perspicuous.  It  is  more  to 
be  regretted  that  a  man  of  such  extensive  learning  and 
piety  should  have  been  so  attached  to  the  monastic  spirit, 
the  excessive  austerities  of  which  impaired  his  constitution. 
His  doctrines  are  consequently  clouded  with  superstitious 
mixtures,  although  it  is  evident  that  he  held  the  essential 
articles  of  Christianity  in  the  utmost  reverence. 

There  have  been  several  editions  of  St.  Basil's  works,  or 
parts  of  them,  printed  before  1500,  but  the  best  is  that 
published  by  the  society  of  the  Benedictines  of  the  congre- 
gation of  St.  Maur,  in  3  vols.  fol.  Gr.  and  Latin.  The  first 
two  volumes  of  this  edition  were  published  in  1722,  under 
the  care  of  father  Gamier,  who  dying  in  1725,  the  third 
volume  was  completed  by  father  Maran,  but  not  until  1730. 
Jn  1764,  M.  Herman,  a  doctor  of  the  Sorbonne,  published 
a  life  of  St.  Basil,  2  vpls.  4to.  The  French  have  transla- 
tions of  his  letters,  and  some  other  parts  of  his  works  pub- 
lished separately. l 

1  Dupin.— Cave,  vol.  I.  both  valuable  articles. — Lardaert  Works.— Mosbeim 
and  Miiner'*  EccJ.  Histories.— Sax ii  Onomnsticon, 


$6  BASIL. 

BASIL,  bishop  of  Ancyra  in  the  year  336,  was  ordained 
to  that  office  by  the  bishops  of  Eusebius's  party,  in  room  of 
Marc  ell  us,  whom  they  had  deposed :  but  Basil  was  excom- 
municated, and  his  ordination  declared  void  in  the  council 
of  Sardica,  although  he  continued  still  in  the  possession  of 
his  see.  He  disputed  against  Photinus  in  the  council  of 
Sirmium,  in  the  year  351,  and  there  confounded  that  he- 
retic. He  was  one  of  the  greatest  enemies  to  the  Arians, 
or  Anomaeans,  i.  e.  those  who  openly  vindicated  the  opi- 
nion of  Arius,  and  maintained  that  the  Word  was  not  like 
to  the  Father.  But  he  was,  notwithstanding,  considered 
as  the  head  of  the  Semi- Arians,  who  maintained  that  the 
Son  was  similar  to  the  Father  in  his  essence,  not  by  nature, 
but  by  a  peculiar  privilege.  Basil  maintained  this  opinion 
and  procured  it  to  be  established  by  the  authority  of  a 
council,  which  was  held  at  Ancyra  in  the  year  358,  and 
defended  it  at  Seleucia  and  Constantinople,  against  the 
Eudoxians  and  Acacians,  who  deposed  him  in  the  year 
360,  after  charging  him  with  many  crimes.  St.  Jerome  in- 
forms us,  that  Basil  wrote  a  book  against  Marcellus,  his 
predecessor ;  a  treatise  of  Virginity ;  and  some  other  lesser 
pieces,  of  which  no  remains  are  extant,  but  he  had  the  re- 
putation of  a  man  of  learning  and  eloquence.  Although 
he  is  placed  by  some  at  the  head  of  the  Semi- Arians,  yet 
it  is  not  quite  certain  that  he  was  deemed  a  heretic.  St. 
Basil  speaks  of  him  as  a  Catholic  bishop,  and  Athanasius 
confesses,  in  his  book  of  Synods,  that  Basil  of  Ancyra  and 
those  of  his  party,  did  not  differ  from  them  that  professed 
the  consubstantiality,  but  only  in  words,  and  therefore  Hi-* 
lary  and  Philastrius  call  the  bishops  of  the  council  of  Sir- 
mium, held  against  Photinus,  of  which  Basil  of  Ancyra 
was  the  chief,  orthodox  bishops. l 

BASILIDES,  one  of  the  chief  leaders  of  the  Egyptian 
Gnostics,  flourished  in  the  second  century.  These  Gnos- 
tics blended  the  Christian  doctrine  with  both  the  Oriental 
and  the  Egyptian  philosophy.  They  did  not  acknowledge 
an  eternal  principle  of  darkness  or  evil.  They  maintained 
that  our  Saviour  consisted  of  two  persons,  Jesus  the  son  of 
Joseph  and  Mary,  and  Christ,  the  son  of  God,  who  en- 
tered into  him  at  his  baptism,  and  went  out  of  him  when 
he  was  apprehended  by  the  Jews  :  some,  if  not  alt  of  them, 
allowed  the  reality  of  his  human  body.     Basilides,  who 

*  Cave,  vol.  I.— Dupin.— Ltrdner's  Work*, 


B  A  S  I  L  I  D  E  S.  97 

bad  the  ambition  to  be  the  founder  of  a  sect,  contrived  the 
following  modification  of  the  heresy  of  the  Gnostics,  He 
pretended  that  God,  from  his  own  essence,  bad  produced 
seven  angels,  or  JEons.  Two  of  these,  called  "  power" 
and  "  wisdom,"  engendered  the  angels  of  the  highest  or- 
der, who  having  formed  heaven  for  their  own  residence, 
.  produced  other  angels  of  a  subordinate  nature,  and  these 
again  produced  others,  till  three  hundred  and  sixtyrfive 
different  orders  or  ranks  were  successively  formed ;  all  of 
which  had  one  Abraxas  for  their  common  head.  The 
lowest  order  living  on  the  confines  of  the  eternal,  malig- 
nant, and  self-animated  matter,  created  this  world,  and  the 
inhabitants  thereof.  God  added  rational  souls  to  men,  and 
subjected  them  to  the  government  of  angels.  At  length 
the  angels  fell  off  from  their  allegiance  to  God,  and  into 
terrible  contests  among  themselves.  He  who  governed  the 
Jewish  nation  was  the  most  turbulent  of  all.  In  pity,  there- 
fore, to  mankind,  who  groaned  under  their  oppression  and 
discordant  influence,  God  sent  forth  his  son  Christ*  a  prin- 
cipal jEon,  to  enter  into  the  man  Jesus,  and  by  him  restore 
the  knowledge  of  God,  and  destroy  the  dominion  of  the 
angels,  piarticularly  of  him  who  governed  the  Jews. 
Alarmed  at  this,  the  god  of  the  Jews  caused  apprehend 
and  crucify  the  man  Jesus,  but  could  not  hurt  the  ^Lon 
who  dwelt  in  him.  Such  souls  as  obey  Jesus  Christ  shall 
at  death  be  delivered  from  matter,  and  ascend  to  the  su- 
preme God :  but  disobedient  souls  shall  successively  pass 
into  new  bodies,  till  they  at  last  become  obedient. 

This  doctrine,  in  point  of  morals,  if  we  may  credit  the 
accounts  of  most  ancient  writers,  was  favourable  to  the 
lusts  and  passions  of  mankind,  aud  permitted  the  practice 
of  all  sorts  of  wickedness.  But  those  whose  testimonies 
are  equally  worthy  of  regard,  give  a  quite  different  account 
of  this  teacher,  and  represent  him  as  recommending  the 
practice  of  virtue  and  piety  in  the  strongest  manner,  and 
as  having  condemned  not  only  the  actual  commission  of 
iniquity,  but  even  every  inward  propensity  of  the  mind  U> 
a  vicious  conduct*  But  in  some  respects  he  certainly  gave 
offence  to  all  real  Christians.  He  affirmed  it  to  be  lawful 
for  them  to  conceal  their  religion,  to  deny  Christ,  when 
their  lives  were  in  danger,  and  to  partake  of  the  feasts  of 
the  Gentiles  that  were  instituted  in  consequence  of  the 
sacrifices  offered  to  idols.  He  endeavoured  also  to  diminish 
the  character  of  those  who  suffered  martyrdom  for  the  caus$ 

Vol.  IV.  H 


38  B  A  S  I  L  I  D  E  S. 

of  Christ,  impiously  maintaining,  that  they  were  more 
heinous" sinners  than  others,  and  that  their  sufferings  were 
to  be  looked  upon  as  a  punishment  inflicted  upon  them  by 
the  divine  justice.  *  He  was  led  into  this  enormous  error, 
by  a  notion  that  all  the  calamities  of  this  life  were  of  a 
penal  nature.  This  rendered  his  principles  greatly  sus- 
pected :  and  the  irregular  lives  of  some  of  his  disciples 
seemed  to  justify  the  unfavourable  opinion  that  was  enter- 
tained of  their  master.  Beausobre,  in  his  history  of  Ma- 
li icheism,  discusses  these  points  with  great  candour.  Ba- 
silides  wrote  many  books,  which  are  now  lost.  Clemens 
Alexandrinus,  cites  the  23d  of  his  explications  of  the 
gospel,  but  of  what  gospel  is  doubtful :  probably  it  might 
be  one  written  by  him,  and  which  bore  his  name.  In  imi- 
tation of  Pythagoras  he  obliged  his  scholars  to  a  five  years 
silence,  teaching  them  to  know  all,  and  penetrate  all ; 
themselves  being  invisible,  and  unknown.  "  Know  yourself, 
says  he/  and  let  nobody  know  you.  The  many  must  not, 
and  cannot  know  their  affairs ;  but  only  one  of  a  thousand, 
and  two  of  ten  thousand.  It  is  not  at  all  proper  for  you  to 
discover  openly  your  mysteries,  but  to  retain  them  in  si- 
lence." After  he  had  spread  his  doctrine  over  the  greatest 
part  of  Egypt,  he  died  at  Alexandria  about  the  year  130, 
according  to  Fleury,  and  in  the  year  133,  according  to 
Jerom  and  Tillemont.1 

BASIN,  or  BASINIO,  of  Parma,  was  a  celebrated  Ita- 
lian poet  of  the  fifteenth  century.  He  was  born  at  Parma, 
about  1421,  and  was  educated  under  Victorin  of  Feltro  at 
Mantua,  and  afterwards  by  Theodore  Gaza  and  Guarino  at 
FerraraJ  where  he  became  himself  professor.  From  Fer- 
rara,  he  went  to  the  court  of  Sigismond  Pandolph  Mala- 
testa,  lord  of  Rimini,  and  there  passed  the  few  remaining 
years  of  his  life,  dying  at  the  age  of  thirty-six,  in  1457. 
He  had  scarcely  finished  his  studies,  when  he  composed  a 
Lath;  poem,  in  three  books,  on  the  death  of  Meleager, 
which  exists  in  manuscript  in  the  libraries  of  Modena,  Flo- 
rence, and  Parma.  In  this  last  repository  there  is  also  a 
beautiful  copy  of  a  collection  of  poems  printed  in  France, 
to  which  Basin io  appears  to  have  been  the  greatest  contri- 
butor. This  collection  was  written  in  honour  of  the  beau- 
tiful Isotta  degli  Atti,  who  was  first  mistress  and  afterwards 
wife  to  the  lord  of  Rimini.     If  we  may  believe  these  poeti- 

1  Mosheim. — Eccl.  Hist.— Lardner's  Works.— Caye,  vol.  I.— -Moreri. 


BASIN.  9* 

*  cal  testimonies,  she  had  as  much  genius  as  beauty ;  she 
was  also  in  poetry,  another  Sappho,  and  in  wisdom  and 
virtue  another  Penelope.  Basinio  was  one  of  the  three 
poets,  who  composed  the  praises  of  this  lady.  The  collec- 
tion was  printed  at  Paris,  under  the  title  of  "  Trium  poe- 
tarum  elegantissimorum,  Porcelii,  Basinii,  et  Trebanii 
Opuscula  nunc  primum  edita,"  Paris,  by  Christ.  Preud- 
homme,  1549.  In  this  edition,  the  collection  is  divided 
into  five  books,  all  in  praise  of  the  lady,  but  the  first  is 
entitled  "  De  amore  JoVis  in  Isottam,"  and  no  distinction 
is  preserved  as  to  the  contributors.  In  the  copy,  however, 
preserved  at  Parma,  and  which  was  transcribed  in  1455, 
during  the  life-time  of  Basinio,  almost  all  the  pieces  which 
compose  the  three  books  are  attributed  to  him.  In  the 
same  library  is  a  long  poem  by  him  in  thirteen  books,  en- 
titled "  Hesperidog ;"  another,  in  two  books  only,  on 
astronomy  ;  a  third,  also  in  two  books,  on  the  conquest  of 
the  Argonauts ;  a  poem  under  the  title  of  "  An  epistle  on 
the  War  of  Ascoli,  between  Sigismond  Malatesta,  and 
Francis  Sforza,"  and  other  unpublished  performances.  It 
is  rather  surprising,  that  none  of  these  have  been  pub- 
lished in  a  city  where  there  are  so  many  celebrated  presses, 
and  which  may  boast  the  honour  of  being  the  native  place 
of  one  of  the  best  poets  of  his  time.  * 

BASIER,  or  BASIRE  (Isaac),  a  learned  divine  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  was  born  in  1 607,  in  the  island  of 
Jersey,  according  to  Wood,  which  an  annotator  on  the 
Biog.  Britannica  contradicts  without  informing  us  of  the 
place  of  his  nativity.  Grey,  in  his  MS  notes,  says  he  was 
born  at  Rouen,  in  Normandy,  but  quotes  no  authority,  nor 
do  we  know  in  what  school  or  university  he  received  his 
education.  For  some  time,  he  was  master  of  the  college 
Or  free-school  at  Guernsey,  and  became  chaplain  to  Tho- 
mas Morton  bishop  of  Durham,  who  gave  him  the  rectory 
of  Stanhope,  and  the  vicarage  of  EgglesclifF,  both  in  the 
county  of  Durham.  In  July  1640,  he  had  the  degree  of 
doctor  of  divinity  conferred  upon  hirti  at  Cambridge,  by 
mandate;  and  was  incorporated  in  the  same  at  Oxford, 
the  November  following,  about  which  time  he  was  made 
chaplain  in  ordinary  to  king  Charles  I. ;  Dec.  12,  1643,  he 
was  installed  into  the  seventh  prebend  of  Durham,  to  which 
he  was  collated  by  his  generous  patron  bishop  Morton.  The 

}  Tiraboschi,  vol.  VI.— Ginguene  Hist.  Litteraire  cfltalie,  cap.  xxi.  vol.  III. 

H  2 


loo  B  A  S  I  E  R- 

next  year,  August  24,  he  was  also  collated  to  the  arch* 
deaconry  of  Northumberland,  with  the  rectory  of  Hawick 
annexed.     But  he  did  not  long  enjoy  these  great  prefer- 
ments, as  in  the  beginning  of  the  civil  wars,  being  seques- 
tered and  plundered,  he  repaired  to  king  Charles  at  Ox- 
ford,   before  whom,    and  his  parliament,  he  frequently 
preached.     In  1646,  he  had  a  licence  granted  him  under 
the  public  seal  of  the  university,  to  preach  the  word  of 
God  throughout  England.  (  Upon  the  surrender  of  the  Ox- 
ford garrison  to  the  parliament,  he  resolved  with  all  the 
zeal  of  a  missionary  to  propagate  the  doctrine  of  the  Eng- 
lish church  in  the  East,  among  the  Greeks,  Arabians,  &c. 
Leaving  therefore  his  family  in  England,  he  went  first  to 
Zante,  an  island  near  the  Morea,  where  he  made  some 
stay ;  and  had  good  success  in  spreading  among  the  Greek 
inhabitants  the  doctrine  of  the  English  church,  the  sub- 
stance of  which  he  imparted  to  several  of  them,  in  a  vul- 
gar Greek  translation  of  our  church*  catechism.    The  suc- 
cess of  this  attempt  was  so  remarkable,  that  it  drew  perse-  x 
cution  upon  him  from  the  Latins,  as  they  are  called,  or 
those  members  of  the  Romish  church,  throughout  the  East* 
who  perform  their  service  in  Latin.     On  this  he  went  into 
the  Morea,  where  the  metropolitan  of  Achaia  prevailed 
upon  him  to  preach  twice  in  Greek,  at  a  meeting  of  some 
of  his  bishops  and  clergy,  which  was  well  received.     At 
bis  departure,  he  left  with  him  a  copy  of  the  catechism 
above  mentioned.      From  thence,  after  he  had   passed 
through  Apulia,  Naples,  and  Sicily  again  (in  which  last, 
at  Messina,  he  officiated  for  some  weeks  on  board  a  ship) 
he  embarked  for  Syria;    and,  after  some  months  stay  at 
Aleppo,    where  he  had  frequent  conversation  with  the 
patriarch  of  Antioch,  then  resident  there,  he  left  a  copy  of 
our  church-catechism,  translated  into  Arabic,  the  native 
language  of  that  place.     From  Aleppo  Jje  went  in  1652  to 
Jerusalem,  and  so  travelled  over  all  Palestine.     At  Jeru- 
salem be  received  much  honour,  both  from  the  Greek 
Christians  and  Latins.     The  Greek  patriarch  (the  better  to 
express  his  desire  of  communion  with  the  church  of  Eng- 
land, declared  by  the  doctor  to  him)  gave  him  his  bull,  or 
patriarchal  seal,  in  a  blank,  which  is  their  way  of  credence* 
and  shewed  him  other  instances  of  respect,  while  the  La- 
tins received  him  courteously  into  their  convent,  thoughv 
he  did  openly  profess  himself  a  priest  of  the  church  of 
England.    After  some  disputes  about  the  validity  of  our 


EASIER.  101 

English  ordinations,  they  procured  him  entrance  into  the 
temple  of  the  sepulchre,  at  the  rate  of  a  priest,  that  is 
half  of  the  sum  paid  by  a  layman  ;  and,  at  his  departure 
from  Jerusalem,  the  pope's  vicar  gave  him  his  diploma  in 
parchment,  under  his  own  hand  and  public  seal,  styling 
him,  a  priest  of  the  church  of  England,  and  doctor  of 
divinity,  which  title  occasioned  some  surprise,  especially 
to  the  French  ambassador  at  Constantinople.     Returning 
to  Aleppo,  he  passed  over  the  Euphrates  and  went  into 
Mesopotamia,  where  he  intended  to  send  the  church-cate- 
chism in  Turkish,  to  some  of  their  bishops,  who  were 
mostly  Armenians.     This  Turkish  translation  was  procured 
by  the  care  of  sir  Thomas  Bendyshe,  the  English  ambas- 
sador at  Constantinople.     After  his  return  from  Mesopo- 
tamia, he  wintered  at  Aleppo,  where  he  received  several 
courtesies  from  the  consul,  Mr.  Henry  Riley.     In  the  be- 
ginning of  1653,  he  departed  from  Aleppo,  and  came  to 
Constantinople  by  land,  being  six  hundred  miles,  without 
any  person  with  him,  that  could  speak  any  of  the  European 
languages.  Yet,  by  the  help  of  some  Arabic  he  had  picked 
up  at  Aleppo,  he  performed  that  journey  in  the  company 
of  twenty  Turks,  who  used  him  courteously,  because  he 
acted  as  physician  to  them  and  their  friends :  a  study  (as 
he  says)  to  which  the  iniquity  of  the  times  and  the  oppor- 
tunity of  Padua  drove  him.     After  his  arrival  at  Constan- 
tinople, the  French  Protestants  there  desired  him  to  be 
their  minister,  and  though  he  declared  to  them  his  resolu- 
tion to  officiate  according  to  the  English  liturgy  (a  trans- 
lation whereof,  for  want  of  a  printed  copy,  cost  him  no 
little  labour)  yet  they  orderly  submitted  to  it,  and  pro- 
mised to  settle  on  him,  in  three  responsible  men's  hands, 
a  competent  stipend  :  and  all  this,  as  they  told  him,  with 
the  express  consent  of  the  French  ambassador,  but  still 
under  the  roof  and  protection  of  the  English  ambassador. 
Before  he  quitted  the  Eastern  parts,  he  intended  to  pass 
into  Egypt,  in  order  to  take  a  survey  of  the  churches  of  the 
Cophties,  and  confer  with  the  patriarch  of  Alexandria,  as  he 
had  done  already  with  the  other  three  patriarchs,'  partly  to 
acquire  the  knowledge  of  those  churches,  and  partly  to  pub- 
lish and  give  them  a  true  notion  of  the  church  of  England ; 
but  whether  he  accomplished  his  design,  is  not  certain. 
-  He  went  next  into  Transilvania,  where  he  was  entertained 
for  seven  years  by  George  Ragotzi  the  Second,  prince  of 
that  country ;  who  honoured  him  with  the  divinity-chair  ia 


102  B  A  S  I  E  R. 

bis  new  founded  university  of  Alba  Julia  (or  Weissenburg) 
and  endowed  him,  though  a  mere  stranger  to  him,  with  a 
very  ample  salary.  During  his  travels  he  collated  the  se- 
veral confessions  of  faith  of  the  different  sorts  of  Christians, 
Greeks,  Armenians,  Jacobites,  Maronites,  &c.  which  he 
kept  by  him  in  their  own  languages.  His  constant  design 
and  endeavour,  whilst  he  remained  in  the  East,  was,  to 
persuade  the  Christians  of  the  several  denominations  there, 
to  a  canonical  reformation  of  some  errors ;  and  to  dispose 
and  incline  them  to  a  communion  or  unity  with  the 
church  of  England,  but  his  pious  intentions  were  after- 
wards defeated  by  the  artifices  of  court  of  France.  Upon 
the  restoration  of  king  Charles  II.  Dr.  Basier  was  recalled 
by  his  majesty  to  England,  in  a  letter  written  to  prince  Ra- 
gotzi.  But  this  unfortunate  prince  dying  soon  after,  of 
the  wounds  he  received  in  a  battle  with  the  Turks  at  Gyala, 
the  care  of  his  solemn  obsequies  was  committed  to  the 
doctor  by  his  relict,  princess  Sophia,  and  he  was  detained 
a  year  longer  from  England.  At  length  returning  in  1661, 
he  was  restored  to  his  preferments  and  dignities ;  and 
made  chaplain  in  ordinary  to  king  Charles  II.  After 
quietly  enjoying  his  large  revenues  for  several  years,  he 
died  on  the  12th  of  Oct.  1676,  in  the  69th  year  of  his  age, 
and  was  buried  in  the  yard  belonging  to  the  cathedral  of 
Durham,  where  a  tomb  was  erected  over  his  grave,  with 
an  inscription.  His  character  appears  to  have  been  that 
of  a  learned,  active,  and  industrious  man  ;  a  zealous  sup- 
porter of  the  church  of  England ;  ^nd  a  loyal  subject.  His 
son,  John  Basire,  esq.  who  had  been  receiver  general  for 
the  four  western  counties,  died  on  the  2d  of  June  1722, 
in  the  77th  year  of  his  age. 

His  works  are,  1.  "Deoet  Ecclesise  Sacrum  ;  Sacrilege 
arraigned  and  condemned  by  St.  Paul,  Romans  ii.  22,"  Ox- 
ford, 1646,  4to,  London,  1668,  3vo.  2.  "  Diatriba  de  an- 
tiqua  Ecclesiae  Britannicae  libertate ;"  written  on  occasion 
of  Chr.  Justell's  intended  Geographia  Sacro-politica,  but 
which  was  never  published.  It  was  found  in  the  lord  Hop- 
ton's  cabinet  after  his  decease,  by  Richard  Watson,  an  exile 
for  his  loyalty,  who  not  only  caused  it  to  be  printed  at 
Bruges  in  1656,  8vo,  but  also  translated  it  into  English, 
and  published  it  under  the  title  of  "  The  ancient  Liberty 
of  the  Britannic  church,  and  the  legitimate  exemption 
thereof  from  the  Roman  patriarchate,  discoursed  on  four 
positions,  and  asserted,  &c."  1661,  8vo.     III.  "The  his- 


EASIER.  10S 

tory  of  the  English  and  Scotch  Presbytery,"  Lond.  1659, 
1660,  8vo."  4.  "  Oratio  privata,  boni  Theologi  (speciatim 
concionatoris  practici)  partes  praecipuas  complectens," 
Lond.  1670,  8vo,  in  half  a  sheet.  5.  "  The  dead  man's 
real  speech*;  being  a  sermon  on  Hebr.  xi.  4.  at  the  funeral 
of  Dr.  John  Cosin,  late  bishop  of  Durham,  29th  of  April, 
1672.  Together  with  a  brief  (account)  of  the  life,  digni- 
ties, benefactions,  principal  actions  and  sufferings  of  the 
said  bishop  :  And  an  Appendix  of  his  profession  and  prac- 
tice, and  of  his  last  will  concerning  religion."  Lond.  1673, 
8vo.  Mr.  Wood  thinks  he  published  some  other  things,  but 
does  not  mention  what  they  were. ! 

BASINGE  (John),  more  commonly  known  by  the  name 
,  of  Basin gstochius,  or  de  Basingstoke,  was  born  at  Basing- 
stoke, a  town  in  the  north  part  of  Hampshire,  and  thence 
took  his  surname.     He  was  a  person  highly  eminent  for 
virtue  and  learning ;  a  perfect  master  of  the  Latin  and  Greek 
languages ;  and  also  an  eloquent  orator,  an  able  mathema- 
tician and  philosopher,  and  a  sound  divine.     The  foun- 
dation of  bis  great  learning  he  laid  in  the  university  of 
Oxford,  and,  for  his  farther  improvement,  went  to  Paris, 
where  he  resided  some  years.     He  afterwards  travelled  to 
Athens,  where  he  made  many  curious  observations,  and 
perfected  himself  in  his  studies,  particularly  in  the  know- 
ledge of  the  Greek  tongue.     At  his  return  to  England,  he 
brought  over  with  him  several  curious  Greek  manuscripts, 
and  introduced  the  use  of  the  Greek  numeral  figures  into  this 
kingdom.     He  became  also  a  very  great  promoter  and  en- 
courager  of  the  study  of  that  language,  which  was  much 
neglected  in  these  western  parts  of  the  world :  and  to  faci- 
litate it,  he  translated  from  Greek  into  Latin  a  grammar, 
which  he  entitled  "  The  Donatus  of  the  Greeks."     Our 
author's  merit  and  learning  recommended  him  to  the  esteem 
of  all  lovers  of  literature:   particularly  to  the  favour  of 
Robert  Grosteste,  bishop   of  Lincoln,  by   whom  he  was 
preferred  to  the  archdeaconry  of  Leicester,  as  he  had  been 
some  time  before  to  that  of  London.     He  died  in  1252. 
The  rest  of  his  works  are,   1.  A  Latin  translation  of  a  Har- 
mony of  the  Gospels.     2.  A  volume  of  sermons.     3.  "  Par- 
ticular sententiarum  per  distinctiones,"  or  a  Commentary 
upon  part  of  Lombard's  Sentences,  &c. — It  was  he  also 

*  Biog.  Brit. — Wood's  Fasti,  vol.  1. — Hutchinson's  Hist,  of  Durham,  vol.  II* 
p.  197. 


104  B  A  S  I  N  G  E. 

that  informed  Robert,  bishop  of  Lincoln,  that  he  had  seen 
at  Athens  a  book  called  "  The  Testament  of  the  XII  Pa- 
triarchs." Upon  which  the  bishop  sent  for  it,  and  trans- 
lated it  into  Latin,  and  it  was  printed  among  the  "  Ortho- 
doxographa,"  Basileae,  1555,  foK  and  afterwards  translated 
into  English,  and  often  reprinted,  12mo.  * 

BASIRE  (James),  an  eminent  English  engraver,  son  of 
Isaac  Basire,  who  was  an  engraver  and  printer,  was  born 
Oct.  6, 1730;  and  bred  from  infancy  to  his  father's  profes- 
sion, which  he  practised  with  great  reputation  for  sixty  years. 
He  studied  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Richard  Dalton ;  was 
with  him  at  Rome ;  made  several  drawings  from  the  pictures 
of  Raphael,  &c  at  the  time  that  Mr.  Stuart,  Mr.  Brand 
Hollis,  and  sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  were  there.     He  was  ap- 
pointed engraver  to  the  society  of  antiquaries  about  1760; 
and  to  the  royal  society  about  1770<     As  a  specimen  of  his 
numerous  works,  it  may  be  sufficient  to  refer  to  the'  beauti- 
ful plates  of  the  "  Vetusta  Monumenta,"  published  by  the 
society  of  antiquaries,  and  to  Mr.  Gough's  truly  valuable 
"  Sepulchral  Monuments."   With  the  author  of  that  splen* 
did  work  he  was  most  deservedly  a  favourite.     When  he 
had  formed  the  plan,  and  hesitated  on  actually  committing 
it  to  the  press,  Mr.  Gough  says,  "  Mr.  Basire's  specimens 
of  drawing  and  engraving  gave  me  so  much  satisfaction, 
that  it  was  impossible  to  resist  the  impulse  of  carrying  such 
a  design  into  execution."     The  royal  portraits  and  other 
beautiful   plates  in  the  "  Sepulchral   Monuments"   fully 
justified  the  idea  which  the  author  had  entertained  of  his 
engraver's  talents  ;  and  are  handsomely  acknowledged  by 
Mr.  Gough.   The  Plate  of  "  Le  Champ  de  Drap  d'Or"  was 
finished  in  1774 ;  a  plate  so  large,  that  paper  was  obliged 
to  be  made  on  purpose,  which  to  this  time  is  called  "  an- 
tiquarian paper.     Besides  the  numerous  plates  which  he 
engraved  for  the  societies,  hfc  was  engaged  in  a  great  num- 
ber of  public  and  private  works,  which  bear  witness  to  the 
fidelity  of  his  burin.    He  engraved  the  portraits  of  Fielding 
and   Hogarth   in  1762;  earl   Camden,  in  1766,  after  si? 
Joshua  Reynolds;  Py  lades  and  Orestes,  1770,  from  a  pic- 
ture by  West ;  portraits  of  the  Rev.  John  Watson,  and  sir 
George  Warren's  family ;  portraits  also  of  dean  Swift,  and 
Dr.  Parnell,  1774;  sir  James  Burrow,  1780;  Mr.  Bowyer* 
1782 ;  portraits  also  of  Dr.  Munro,  Mr.  Gray,  Mr>  Thomp- 

J  Biog,Brit.— Leland.r-Pitts.— Tanner, 


B  A  S  I  B  E.  10S 

son,  Lady  Stanhope,  Sir  George  Savile,  Bishop  Hoadly, 
Rev.  Dr.  Pegge,  JMr.  Price,  Algernon  Sydney,  Andrew 
Marvell,  William  Camden,  William  Brereton,  1790,  &c.  &c; 
Captain  Cook's  portrait,  and  other,  plates,  for  his  First  and 
Second  Voyages ;  a  great  number  of  plates  for  Stuart's 
Athens  (which  are  well  drawn).  In  another  branch  of  his  art, 
the  Maps  for  general  Roy's  "  Roman  Antiquities  in  Bri- 
tain" are  particularly  excellent.  He  married,  first,  Anne 
Beaupuy ;  and,  secondly,  Isabella  Turner.  He  died  Sept. 
6,  1802,  in  his  seventy -third  year,  and  was  buried  in  the 
vault  under  Pentonville  chapel. — The  ingenuity  and  inte- 
grity of  this  able  artist  are  inherited  by  his  eldest  son,  of 
whose  works  it  may  be  enough  to  mention  only  the  "  Ca- 
thedrals," published  by  the  society  of  antiquaries,  from  the 
exquisite  drawings  by  Mr.  John  Carter.  A  third  James  Ba~ 
sire,  born  in  1796,  has  already  given  several  proofs  of  supe- 
rior excellence  in  the  arts  of  drawing  and  engraving. l 

BASKERVILLE  (Sir  Simojs),  knight,  of  the  ancient 
family  of  the  Baskervilles  in  Herefordshire,  an  excellent 
scholar  and  eminent  physician,  famous  for  his  skill  in  ana- 
tomy, and  successful  practice  in  the  time  of  king  James  I.  and 
king  Charles  I.  was  born  at  Exeter  1573.     His  father  Tho- 
mas Baskerville,  an  apothecary  of  that  city,  observing  an 
early  love  of  knowledge  and  thirst  after  learning  in  him, 
gave  him  a  proper  education  for  the  university,  to  which 
he  was   sent   when   about   eighteen   years   old,  entering 
him  of  Exeter  college,  in  Oxford,  on  the  10th  of  March 
1191,  putting  him  under  the  care  of  Mr.  William  Helm, 
a  man  no  less  famous  for  his  piety  than  learning ;  under 
whose  tuition  he  gave  such  early  proofs  of  his  love  of  virtue 
and  knowledge,  that  he  was  on  the  first  vacancy  elected 
fellow  of  that  house,  before  he  had  taken  his  bachelor's 
degree  in  arts,  which  delayed  his  taking  it  till  July  8, 1596, 
to  which  he  soon  after  added  that  of  M.  A.  and  when  he 
was  admitted,  bad  particular  notice  taken  of  him  for  his 
admirable  knowledge  in  the  languages  and  philosophy.  Af* 
ter  this,  viz.  1606,  he  was  chosen  senior  proctor  of  the 
University,  when  he  bent  his  study  wholly  to  physic,  be« 
came  a  most  eminent  proficient,  and  was  then  in  as  'great; 
esteem  at  the  university  for  his  admirable  knowledge  it\ 
medicine,  as  he  had  been  before  for  other  parts  of  learn- 
ing, taking  at  once,  by  accumulation  (June  20, 1611),  both 

1  Nichols's  Life  of  Bowyer,  vol.  Ill, 


106  BASKERVILLE. 

his  degrees  therein,  viz.  that  of  bachelor  and  doctor.     Af- 
ter many  years  study  and  industry,  he  came  to  London, 
where  he  acquired  great  eminence  in  his  profession ;  being 
a  member  of  the  college  of  physicians,  and  for  some  time 
also  president.     His  high  reputation  for  learning  and  skill 
soon  brought  him  into  vogue  at  court,  where  he  was  sworn 
physician  to  James  I.  and  afterwards  to  Charles  I.  with 
whom,  Mr.  Wood  tells  us,  he  was  in  such  esteem  for  his 
learning  and  accomplishments,  that  he  conferred  the  ho- 
nour of  knighthood  upon  him.     By  his  practice. he  ob- 
tained a  very  plentiful  estate,  and  shewed  in  his  life  a  no- 
ble spirit  suitable  to  the  largeness  of  his  fortune.     What 
family  he  left  besides  his  wife,  or  who  became  heir  to  all 
his  great  wealth,  we  cannot  find.    He  died  July  5,  164 J, 
aged  sixty-eight,  and  was  buried  in  the  cathedral  church 
of  St.  Paul.     No  physician  of  that  age  could,  we  imagine, 
have  better  practice  than  he,  if  what  is  reported  of  him  be 
true,  viz.  that  he  had  no  less  than  one  hundred  patients  a 
week  >  nor  is  it  strange  he  should  amass  so  great  wealth  as 
to  acquire  the  title  of  sir  Simon  Baskerville  the  rich.  * 

BASKERVILLE  (John),  a  celebrated  printer,  was  born 
at  Wolverley,  in  the  county  of  Worcester,  in  1706,  heir 
to  a  paternal  estate  of  60/.  per  annum,  which  fifty  years 
after,  while  in  his  own  possession,  had  increased  to  90/. 
He  was  trained  to  no  occupation,  but  in  1726  became  a 
writing-master  at  Birmingham. — In  1737  he  taught  at  a 
school  in  the  Bull-ring,  and  is  said  to  have  written  an  ex- 
cellent hand.     As  painting  suited  his  talents,  he  entered 
into   the  lucrative   branch  of  japanning,  and  resided  at 
No.  22,  in  Moor-street ;  and  in  1745   he  took  a  building 
lease  of  eight  acres  two  furlongs,  north-west  of  the  town, 
to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  Easy  Hill,  converted  it  into 
a  little  Eden,  and  built  a  house  in  the  centre :  but  the 
town,  daily  increasing  in  magnitude  and  population,  soon 
surrounded  it  with  buildings. — Here  he  continued  the  bu- 
siness of  a  japanner  for  life  :  his  carriage,  each  pannel  of 
which  was  a  distinct  picture,  might  be  considered  the  pat- 
tern card  of  his  trade,  and  was  drawn  by  a  beautiful  pair  of 
cream-coloured  horses.     His  inclination  for  letters  induced 
him,  in  1750,  to  turn  his  thoughts  towards  the  press.     He 
spent  many  years  in  the  uncertain  pursuit,  sunk  600/.  be- 

*  Biog.  Brit— Prince1*  Worthies  of  Devon.— Wood's  Fasti,  vol.  I.— Lloyd's 
Memoirs,  fol.  p.  635.. 


BASKERVILLE.  10T 

fore  he  could  produce  one  letter  to  please  himself,  and 
some  thousands  before  the  shallow  stream  of  profit  began 
to  flow. 

His  first  attempt  was  a  quarto  edition  of  Virgil,  1756, 
price  one  guinea,  but  now  much  more  valuable.  This  he 
reprinted  in  8vo,  1758,  and  in  that  year  was  employed  by 
the  university  of  Oxford  on  an  entire  new-faced  Greek 
type.  Soon  after  this  he  obtained  leave  from  the  univer- 
sity of  Cambridge,  to  print  a  bible  in  royal  folio,  and  two 
editions  of  the  Common  Prayer,  in  three  sizes,  for  which 
permission  he  paid  a  considerable  premium.  The  next  in 
order  of  his  works  was,  "  Dr.  Newton's  edition  of  Milton,** 
1759,  2  vols.  8vo;  "  Dodsley's  Fables,"  1761,  8vo  ;  "  Ju- 
venal and  Persius,"  1761,  8vo;  "  Congreve's  Works,"  1761, 
3  vols.  8vo  ;  "  The  Book  of  Common  Prayer,5'  1762,  Svo, 
and  an  edition  in  l2mo;  u  Horace,  edited  by  Mr.  Livie, 

1762,  8vo;  "  Addison's  Works,  1763,  4  vols.  4to;  "  Dc 
Jennings's  Introduction  to  the  knowledge  of  Medals,"  1763, 
3vo.  He  also  printed  editions  of  Terence,  Catullus,  Lu- 
cretius, Sallust,  and  Florus,  in  royal  4to. 

These  publications  rank  the  name  of  Baskerville  with 
those  persons  who  have  the  most  contributed,  at  least  in 
modern  times,  to  the  beauty  and  improvement  of  the  ait 
of  printing.     But  after  the  publication  of  his  folio  Bible  in 

1763,  he  appears  to  have  been  weary  of  the  profession  of 
a  printer;  or  at  least  declined  to  carry  it  on,  except  through 
the  medium  of  a  confidential  agent.  In  1765,  he  applied 
to  his  friend  the  eminent  Dr.  Franklin,  then  at  Paris,  to 
sound  the  literati  respecting  the  purchase  of  his  types  ;  but 
received  for  answer,  "  That  the  French,  reduced  by  the 
war  of*  1756,  were  so  far  from  being  able  to  pursue  schemes 
of  taste,  that  they  were  unable  to  repair  their  public  build- 
ings, and  suffered  the  scaffolding  to  rot  before  them." 

Iu  regard  to  his  private  character,  he  was  much  of  a  hu- 
mourist, idle  in  the  extreme,  but  his  invention  was  of  the 
true  Birmingham  model,  active.  He  could  well  design, 
but  procured  others  to  execute :  wherever  he  found  merit 
he  caressed  it :  he  was  remarkably  polite  to  the  stranger, 
fond  of  shew  :  a  figure  rather  of  the  smaller  size,  and  de- 
lighted to  adorn  that  figure  with  gold  lace.  Although 
constructed  with  the  light  timbers  of  a  frigate,  his  move- 
ment was  stately  as  a  ship  of  the  line.  During  the  twenty- 
five  last  years  of  his  life,  though  then  in  his  decline,  he 
retained  the  singular  traces  of  a  handsome  man.     If  he  ex- 


108  BASKERVILLE 

hibited  a  peevish  temper,  we  may  consider  that  good -nature 
and  intense  thinking. are  not  always  found  together.  Taste 
accompanied  him  through  the  different  walks  of  agriculture, 
architecture,  and  the  fine  arts.  Whatever  passed  through 
his  fingers,  bore  the  lively  marks  of  John  Baskerville. 

He  .died  without  issue,  Jan.  8,  1775.  We  lament  to 
add,  that  in  his  will,  executed  about  two  years  before,  he 
unblushingly  avows  not  only  his  disbelief,  but  his  contempt 
for  revealed  religion,  and  that  in  terms  too  gross  to  be 
transcribed.  The  same  aversion  to  Christianity  induced 
him  to  order  that  he  should  be  buried  in  a  tomb  of  ma* 
sonry,  in  the  shape  of  a  cone,  under  a  wind-mill  in  his 
garden.  This  was  accordingly  performed,  and  although 
his  dwelling-house  was  destroyed  in  the  riots  in  1791,  his 
remains  continued  undisturbed.  In  April  1775,  his  widow 
wholly  declined  the  printing  business,  but  continued  that 
of  a  letter-founder  until  Feb.  1777.  Many  efforts  were 
Used  after  Baskerville' s  death  to  dispose  of  his  types  in  this, 
country,  but  without  effect;  and  in  1779,  they  were  pur- 
chased by  a  literary  society  of  Paris  for  3,700/.  and  were 
afterwards  employed  on  a  splendid  edition  of  Voltaire's 
Works.  Many  unjust  and  unnecessary  reflections  are 
made,  in  the  work  which  furnishes  the  principal  part 
of  this  memoir,  on  the  booksellers  and  universities  having 
declined  to  purchase  those  types.  The  answer  is  easy. 
Baskerville  himself  derived  little  advantage  from  them ;  and 
at  the  time  they  were  offered  for  sale,  and  for  many  years 
afterwards,  the  principal  works,  which  came  from  his  press 
were  sold  at  a  price  so  inferior  as  to  render  any  farther  spe- 
v  culation  hopeless. 1 

BASNAGE  (Benjamin),  the  first  of  a  family  of  French 
Calvinists,  celebrated  for  learning  and  piety,  was  the  son 
of  N.  Basnage,  minister  of  Norwich  in  England,  and  after- 
wards of  Carentan  in  Normandy,  and  was  born  in  1580. 
After  studying  divinity,  he  succeeded  his  father  as  minister 
of  Carentan,  and  remained  in  that  sacred  charge  the  whole 
of  his  life,  although  invited  to  Roan,  and  some  other  more 
considerable  churches,  and  even  permitted  by  the  national 
synod  of  Charenfon  to  change  his  situation.  He  used  to 
say  that  his  first  church  was  his  spouse,  from  which  he 
ought  not  to  be  separated  unless  by  death.  At  the  above-r 
mentioned  synod,  he  satin  1623,  as  deputy  from  the  pro-* 

l  Huttou's  Hist,  of  Birmingham.— Nichols'*  Life  of  Bowyer.— Biof .  Brfc, 


f 

B  A  S  N  A  G  E.  109 

vince  of  Normandy,  but  when  named  again  in  1631,  by 
die  same  province,  the  king  forbid  his  going  to  the  synod, 
and  deprived  him  of  bis  church,  until  the  remonstrances  of 
the  assembly  induced  his  majesty  to  restore  him.  In  1637, 
he  ptesided  as  moderator  of  the  national  synod  of  Alencon, 
and  contributed  very  essentially  to  preserve  moderation  du- 
ring a  crisis  peculiarly  important  to  the  reformed  church 
of  France.  In  1644,  being  chosen  assistant  moderator  to 
the  national  synod  of  Charenton,  he  was  deputed  by  them 
to  the  queen-dowager,  who  received  him  with  marks  of 
favour.  He  entered  into  the  usual  controversies  with  Les- 
crivain,  Draconis,  and  other  adherents  of  the  church  of 
Rome.  His  principal  work,  "  Treatise  on  the  Church," 
printed  at  Rochelle  in  1612,  was  much  esteemed,  and  ha 
left  behind  him,  but  in  an  imperfect  state,  a  work  against 
worshipping  the  Virgin  Mary.  He  died  in  1652,  aft^r  hav- 
ing been  in  the  ministry  fifty-one  years.  He  is  frequently 
mentioned  in  Quick's  Synodicum,  having  been  deputed  to 
king  James  I.  and  having  gone  to  Scotland,  where  he  served 
the  churches  in  matters  pertaining  to  their  temporal  in- 
terest. King  James's  letter  of  leave  styles  him,  "  deputy 
from  all  the  churches  of  France." ' 

BASNAGE  (Anthony),  eldest  son  of  the  above,  was 
born  in  1610,  and  became  minister  of  Bayeux,  and  was 
called  to  suffer  persecution  in  his  old  age,  being  thrown 
into  the  prison  at  Havre  de  Grace,  when  he  was  seventy- 
five  years  of  age.  On  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantz 
he  was  set  at  liberty,  and  took  refuge  in  Holland,  where 
he  probably  passed  the  remainder  of  his  days  in  quiet  He 
died  at  Zutpnen  in  1691.  His  son,  Samuel  Basnage  de 
Flotmanville,  .succeeded  him  in  his  congregation  at  Bay- 
eux, but  was  forced  to  leave  France  in  16S5,  and  retire  to 
Zutphen,  with  the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  ablest  of 
the  French  reformed  clergy.  He  wrote  "  Exercitations  on 
Baronius,"  beginning  where  Casaubon  left  off;  but  chang- 
ing his  purpose,  he  turned  his  work  into  the  shape  of  Ec- 
clesiastical Annals,  published  in  1706,  under  the  title  of 
"  Annates  politico-ecclesiastici,"  3  vols.  fol.  and  coming 
down  to  the  reign  of  Phocas.  This  work  is,  undoubtedly, 
useful,  but  has  been  superseded  by  that  of  James  Basnage, 
of  whom  we  are  soon  to  speak.     Anthony  died  in  1721.  * 

l  C«.  Ditt„-Coliier'i  Diet,  vol.  IY.  >  Ibjd. 


HO  BASNAGE. 

BASNAGE  (Henry)  du  Fraqueny,  seconcTson  of  Ben-  ^ 
jamin,  was  born  at  St.  Mere  Eglise  in  Lower  Norman dy, , 
Oct.  16,  1615.  He  was  admitted  an  advocate  in  the  par- 
liament of  Normandy  in  1636,  and  proved  one  of  tbe  most 
learned  and  eloquent  of  bis  order,  and  was  employed  in  a 
great  many  causes,  as  well  as  political  affairs  of  importance, 
in  all  wbicb  he  gave  tbe  greatest  satisfaction.  As  a  writer, 
likewise,  he  stood  very  high  in  the  opinion  of  bis  country- 
men. His  "  Commentaire  sur  la  Coutume  de  Normandie," 
or  common  law  of  Normandy,  was  first  published  in  1678, 
and  was.  so  much  approved,  that  a  new  edition  was  pub- 
lished in  1694,  2  vols.  fol.  His  "  Traite*  des  Hypotheques,** 
or  Mortgages,  was  also  so  popular  as  to  go  through  three 
editions. before  the  above  year.  Notwithstanding  his  reli- 
gion, persons  of  rank  and  influence  in  the  Romish  church, 
testified  tne  highest  esteem  for  him.  He  died  at  Roan, 
Oct  20,  1695. 

BASNAGE  (James)  dr  Franquener,  son  of  the  pre- 
ceding,' and  the  most  celebrated  of  his  family,  was  born  at 
Roan  in  Normandy,  Aug.  8,  1653,  add  received  an  edu- 
cation suitable  to  the  talents  which  his  father  discovered 
in  him.  He  first  studied  under  the  celebrated  Tanaquil 
Faber,  who  made  him  his  favourite  scholar,  but  endeavour- 
ed to  dissuade  him  from  engaging  in  the  ministry.  At  se- 
venteen years  of  age,  after  he  had  made  the  Greek  and 
Latin  authors  familiar  to  him,  and  learned  the  English, 
Italian,  and  Spanish  languages,  he  went  to  Geneva,  where 
he  passed  through  a  course  of  philosophy  under  Mr.  Chouet. 
He  began  his  divinity  studies  there  under  Mestrezat,  Tur- 
retin,  and  Tronchin,  and  finished  them  at  Sedan  under  the 
professors  Jurieu  and  Le  Blanc  de  Beaulieu,  But  disliking 
Mr.  Jurieu's  less  tolerant  sentiments,  he  applied  himself 
more  particularly  to  the  latter,  who  was  a  divine  of  a  mo- 
derate and  pacific  temper.  He  returned  afterwards  to  Roan; 
and  the  learned  Mr.  Le  Moine  having  been  called  to  the 
professorship  of  divinity  at  Leyden,  Mr.  Basnage  succeeded 
him,  as  pastor  of  the  church  of  Roan  in  1676,  though  he 
was  then  but  twenty  three  years  of  age,  and  here  studied 
ecclesiastical  history  and  the  fathers,  and  went  on  with  the 
collections  which  he  had  begun  at  Geneva  and  Sedan.  In 
1684  he  married  Susanna  du  Moulin,  daughter  of  Cyrus 
du  Moulin,  first  cousin  of  Charles  du  Moulin,  the  Papinian 
of  France,  and  grand-daughter  of  the  famous  Peter  du 


BASNAGE.  HI 

Moulin.  The  exercise  of  the  protestant  religion  being 
suppressed  at  Roan  in  1685,  and  Mr.  Basnage  being  no 
longer  allowed  to  perform  the  functions  of  his  ministry,  he 
desired  leave  of  the  king  to  retire  into  Holland,  and  ob~ 
tained  it  for  himself,  his  wife,  and  a  nurse  ;  but  upon  con- 
dition, that  the  nurse  should  return  into  France  at  the  end 
of  two  years.  He  settled  at  Rotterdam,  where  he  was  a 
minister  pensionary  till  1691,  when  he  was  made  pastor  of 
the  Walloon  church  of  that  city.  The  works  which  he 
wrote,  raised  him  a  great  reputation  over  all  Europfe;  and 
he  kept  a  correspondence  with  a  great  many  learned  men 
both  in  the  United  Provinces,  and  in  foreign  countries: 
His  studies  employed  the  greater  part  of  his  time,  and  his 
only  relaxation  was  a  select  society  of  men  of  learning, 
who  met  once  a  week  at  each  other's  houses.  The  prin- 
cipal members  of  this  little  society  were  Messrs.  Paatz, 
Basnage,  De  Beauval,  his  brother,  Bayle,  Lufneu,  and 
Leers.  Their  contests  were  sometimes  sharp,  but  friendly, 
and  there  was  that  candid  interchange  of  sentiment  from 
which  Basnage  confessed  that  he  had  derived  great  advan- 
tage. He  had  frequent  disputes  with  Mr.  Jurieu,  his  bro- 
ther-in-law, particularly  on  the  subject  of  the  revolt  of  the 
Cevennois,  which  Jurieu  approved  and  Basnage  condemn^- 
ed.  The  author  of  his  life  mentions  a  conference  which 
they  had  upon  that  subject,  in  1703,  in  which  Jurieu  was 
obliged  by  the  reasons  of  his  antagonist  to  condemn  the 
cruelties  of  the  Camisars,  and  he  only  urged  in  their  jus- 
tification, that  they  had  been  used  with  rigour,  and  had 
lost  patience.  In  1709  pensionary  Heinsius,  who  had  a 
great  regard  for  him,  procured  him  to  be  chosen  one  of  the 
pastors  of  the  Walloon  church  at  the  Hague.  He  was  then 
employed  to  manage  a  secret  negotiation  with  mareschal 
D'Uxeiles,  plenipotentiary  of  France  at  the  congress  of 
Utrecht ;  and  he  executed  it  with  so  much  success,  that  he 
was  afterwards  entrusted  with  several  important  com  mis* 
sions.  Cardinal  de  Bouillon,  dean  of  the  Sacred  College, 
who  was  then  in  Holland,  imparted  to  him  all  his  concerns 
with  the  States.  The  abb6  Du  Bois,  who  was  afterwards 
cardinal  and  first  minister  of  France,  having  arrived  at  the 
Hague  in  1716,  with  the  character  of  ambassador  plenipo- 
tentiary, to  negotiate  a  defensive  alliance  between  France, 
England,  and  the  States  General,  was  ordered  by  the  duke 
of  Orleans,  regent  of  France,  to  apply  to  Mr.  Basnage  for 
his  advice,  the  consequence  of  which  was,  that  they  acted 


112  BASNAGE. 

in  concert,  and  the  alliance  was  concluded  Jan.  14,  171?. 
As  a  reward  for  this  service,  he  obtained  the  restitution  of 
his  estate  in  France.  He  corresponded  with  several  princes, 
noblemen,  and  statesmen,  both  catholic  and  protestant, 
and  with  a  great  many  learned  men  in  France,  Italy,  Ger* 
many,  and  England,  upon  subjects  of  a  political  or  literary 
nature.  The  catholics  appear  to  have  confided  as  much  in 
his  opinion  as  the  protestants,  of  which  we  have  a  remark- 
able instance  in  a  French  archbishop.  This  prelate,  per- 
plexed'to  know  what  step  to  take  respecting  the  bull  Uni* 
genitus,  the  rigours  of  which  put  an  end  to  the  last  hopes  of 
reconciliation  between  the  catholic  and  protestant  churchesy 
consulted  Basnage,  and  requested  to  know  how  he  would 
himself  act,  if  in  his  place.  Basnage  replied,  that  it  did 
not  perhaps  become  him  to  give  advice  in  a  case  of  so  much 
difficulty:  but  suggested  that  the  archbishop  ought  to 
examine  himself  whether  he  acknowledged  the  pope's  au- 
thority, or  not :  that  in  the  first  case  he  was  obliged  to  ad- 
mit the  constitution  ;  that  in  the  second  case  he  might  re- 
ject it ;  but  he  should  consider,  that  if  he  argued  conse- 
quentially, this  would  carry  him  farther  than  he  would  go. 
Basnage  was  a  man  of  great  sincerity  and  candour,  and 
had  a  politeness  seldom  to  be  met  with  among  learned  men. 
He  was  affable  and  easy  in  his  behaviour,  and  always  ready 
to  use  his  interest  in  favour  of  the  unfortunate.  He  an- 
swered every  person  who  consulted  him  with  the  utmost 
affability  and  kindness.  He  was  a  good  friend,  a  man  of 
great  probity,  and  though  he  confuted  errors  with,  zeal  and 
spirit,  yet  he  treated  the  persons  themselves  with  peculiar 
moderation.  His  constitution,  which  before  had  been  very 
firm,  began  to  decline  m  1722;  and  after  a  lingering  ill- 
ness he  died  with  exemplary  piety,  Dec.  22,  1723,  in  the 
seventy-first  year  of  his  age.  He  left  only  one  daughter, 
who  was  married  to  Mr.  de  la  Sarraz,  privy  counsellor  to 
the  king  of  Poland. 

The  favourite  studies  of  his  life,  and  much  of  his  cha- 
racter, may  be  ascertained  from  his  works,  which  were 
very  numerous:  1.  "  Examen  des  Methodes,"  &c.  Co* 
logne,  1684,  12mo;  or  an  examination  of  the  methods 
proposed  by  the  assembly  of  the  clergy  of  France  in  1682. 
Simon  answered  some  remarks  in  this  work  on  his  "  Cri- 
tical History."  2.  "  Consideration  sur  l'etat  de  ceux  qui 
sont  tombed."  This  consists  of  letters  sent  to  the  church 
of  Ro^n,  respecting  some  falling- off  among  its  members, 


B  A  S  N  A  G  E.  113 

Rotterdam,  1686,  12mo.  3.  cf  Reponse  a  M.  PEveque 
deMeauxsursa  lettre  pastorale,"  Cologne,  1686,  12mo; 
all  the  preceding  without  his  name.  4.  "  Divi  Chrysos- 
tomi  Epistola  ad  Csesarium  Monachum,  &c."  To  this 
epistle  are  added  three  dissertations  on  the  heresy  of 
Apollinaris,  on  the  works  attributed  to  Athanasius,  and 
an  answer  to  father  Simon.  It  was  printed  at  Rotterdam, 
1687,  8vo,  and  reprinted  there  1694,  under  the  title  of 
t%  Dissertationes  Historico-Thieologicae."  5.  "  La  Com- 
munion Sainte,"  a  treatise  on  worthily  communicating, 
Rotterdam,  1688,  8vo,  reprinted  at  least  ten  times,,  and 
even  adopted  as.  a  pious  and  useful  work,  by  some  of  the 
popish  clergy.  6.  "  Histoire  de  la  Religion  des  Eglises 
Reform£es,  &c."  containing  an  account  of  the  succession 
of  the  reformed  churches,  the  perpetuity  of  their  faith, 
especially  since  the  eighth  century,  the  establishment  of 
the  reformation,  the  continuation  of  the  same  doctrines 
from  the  reformation  to  the  present  time,  with  an  history 
of  the  origin  and  progress  of  the  chief  errors  of  the  Roman 
churcb9  in  answer  to  the  bishop  of  Meaux's  "  History  of 
the  variations  of  the  Protestant  churches."  This  was  first 
published  at  Rotterdam,  2  vols.  12mo,  reprinted  by  the 
author  in  his  church  history  iu  1699,  .but  enlarged  and 
published  separately  in  1721,  5  vols.  8vo,  and  after  the 
author's  death,  in  1725,  2  vols.  4to;  the  best  and  most 
complete  edition.  7.  "  Trait6  de  la  conscience/'  Amst. 
1696,  2  vols.  8?o;  Lyons,  3  vols.  12mo.  This  is  partly 
an  answer  to  Bayle's  philosophical  commentary.  8.  "  Let- 
tres  Pastorales,"  intended  to  animate  the  protestants  on 
the  renewal  of  persecution,  1698,  4to.  9.  "Histoire  de 
l'Eglise  depuis  Jesus  Christ  jus<ju*&  present,"  Rotterdam, 
2  vols.  fol.  10.  "Trait£  des  prejugez,"  in  answer  to  the 
pastoral  charges  of  the  French  prelates  de  Noailles,,  Col- 
bert, Bossuet,  and  Nesmond,  1701,  3  vols.  8vo.  11.  "  De- 
fense du  Trait€  des  prejugez,  &c."  Delft,  1703,  8vo. 
12.  "  Dissertation  historique  sur  1' usage  de  la  Benediction 
nuptiale,"  inserted  in  the  History  of  the  Works  of  the 
Learned,  for  1703,  an  attack  upon  some  of  the  popish  mar~ 
riage  ceremonies.  13.  "  Dissertation  sur  la  man i ere  dont 
le  Canon  de  l'Ecriture  Sainte  s'est  formed  &c."  intended 
as  an  apology  for  what  he  had  said  in  his  Church  History 
against  Mr.  Richardson's  "  Defence  of  the  Canon  of  the 
New  Testament."  14,  "Histoire  de  1'ancien  et  du^nou*. 
veau  Testament/'  Amst.  fol.  1 705,  with  cuts  by  de  Hooge, 
Vol.  IV.  I  . 


11*  B  A  SNAGE 

often  reprinted,  and  in  various  forms.     1 5.  u  Histoire  de* 
Juifs,"    Rotterdam,  1706,    5  vols.    12 mo,    Hague,    17l6y 
15  vols.   12mo,  translated  into  English  by  Taylor,   1706^ 
fol.  and  an  abridgment  of  the  English  by  Crull*    170&, 
2  vols.  8vo.     It  appears  that  Dupin  had  reprinted  this  work 
at  Paris,  without  consulting  the  author,  and  with  altera- 
tions adapted  to  the  sentiments  of  the  church  of  Rome. 
This  occasioned  Basnage  to  publish  a  sixth,  or  supplemen- 
tary volume,  under  the  title  of,  16.  u  L'Histoire  des  Juifs 
reclamee  et  retablie  par  son  veritable  auteur,  &e.""  Rott. 
1711,  12 mo.     17.  "  Entretieris  sur  la  Religion,'*  Rotter- 
dam,f  1709,  I2mo,  and  frequently  reprinted,  and  in  17 IS 
enlarged    to    two    vols.    12mo,    but    without   his   name. 
1 8.  "  Sermons  sur  divers-  sujets,  &c."  Rott.  2  vols.  8  vo, 
on  which  Niceron  makes  a  curious  remark,  that  there  is 
more  morality  in  them  than  js  generally  in  those  of  the 
Protestants.     19.    <fr  Prospectus    novae    editionis  Canisii, 
Dacherii,  &c."     He  had  undertake^  an  improved  edition 
of  Canisius's  "  Lectiones  antique,''  but  his  booksellers  not 
being  able  to  support  the  expence,  transferred  it  to  the 
Wetsteins,  who  published  this  great  collection  under  the 
title  of  "  Thesaurus  Monumentorum  Eccl.  et  Hist.  &,c". 
Antwerp,   1725,  7  vols.  fol.     20.  "Preface  sur  la  duree 
de  la  persecution/'  prefixed  to  Claude's >"  Complaints  of. 
the  Protestants."     21.  "  Antiquitez  Judaiques,    ou-  Re- 
marques  critiques  sur  la  Republique  des  Hebreux,"  Amst. 
1713,  2  vols.  8vo,  intended  as  critical  remarks  on  Cunaeu* 
"  De  Republica  Hebraeorum."     22.  "  Reflexions  desin- 
terressees  sur  la  Constitution  du  pape  Clement  XL  qui'con- 
damne  le  nouveau  Testament  du  P.  Quesnel,"  Amst.  1714, 
8vo.     23.  "  L'unit6,  la  visibility   &c.  de  1'EglUe,"  Amst. 
1715,  8vo.     24.  u  Avis  sqr  la  tenue  d'un  Concile  National 
en  France,  &c."  1715,  8vo,  without  his  name.   25.  "L'etat 
present  de  l'Eglise  Gallicane,"  chiefly  on  the  conduct  of 
pope  Clement  XL  Amst.  171.9,  12mo.     26.  « Instruction* 
pastorales  aux  Beformez  de  France,"  concerning  obedi- 
ence due  to  the  king,   1720,  12roo.     This  was  written  at 
the  desire  of  the  regent  duke  of  Orleans,  yet  it  was  at- 
tempted to  be- answered *by  Catelan,  a  French  bishop. 
The  controversy,  however,  was*  carried  on   between  him 
and  Basnage  with  great  liberality.     27.    "  Annates, des 
Provinces  Unles,"  vol.  L  Hague,  fol.  1719.    Thfe  volume 
contains  the  history  of  the  united  provinces  from  1646  to 
1667.    The.  second,  published  in  1726,  proceeds  as  far 


B  A  S  N  A  G  E.  115 

as  the  peace  of  Nimeguen  in  1678.  This  valuable  work 
was  undertaken  at  the  request  of  the  counsellor  deputies 
of  Holland  and  West  Friesland,  who  furnished  the  author 
with  materials  from  their  archives.  .28.  "  Nouveaux  Ser-s 
mons,'*  1720,  8vo.  29.  "  Dissertation  historique  sur  les 
Duels  et  les  ordres  de  Chevalerie,"  This  dissertation  on 
duels  is  said  to  be  a  very  curious  work.  Besides  these, 
M.  Basnage  was  am  occasional  contributor  to  the  literary, 
journals,  and  left  many  manuscripts.  His  style,  in  the 
greater  part  of  his  writings,  is  inferior  to  his  matter,  a  re- 
mark which  belongs  generally  to  voluminous  writers.  * 

BASNAGE  (Henry),  de  Beacjval,  brother  to  the  pre- 
ceding; was  born  at  Roan,  in  1659,  and,  like  his  father, 
became  an  advocate  of  the  parliament  of  Normandy.  Oil 
the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes,  he  took  refuge  in 
Holland,  where  he  published  a  very  liberal  and  sensible 
work,  entitled,  "  Trait6  de  la  Tolerance,"  1684,  12nrto. 
When  Bayle  discontinued  his  "  Republic  of  Letters,"  Bas- 
nage commenced  a  similar  literary  journal,  entitled  "  His- 
toire  des  ouvrages  des  Savans,"  in  Sept.  1687,  and  con- 
cluded it  in  June- 1709,  in  all  24  vols.  12mo,  written  with 
great  impartiality,  and  containing  many  valuable  analyses 
and  extracts  from  books.  He  also  published  an  improved 
edition  of  Furetiere's  dictionary,  3  vols.  fol.  The  "  Dic- 
tionnaire  (Jniversel,"  printed  at  Trevoux,  in  1704,  3  vols, 
fol.  is  an  exact  copy  of  the  preceding,  but  without  the  least 
notice  of  either  Furetiere  or  Basnage.  Our  author  died  at 
the  Hague,  in.  1710. 9  x 

BASSANO.     SeePONTE. 

BASSANTIN  (James),  a  Scotch  astronomer  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  whose  writings  have  deservedly  transmitted 
his  memory  to  posterity,  was  the  son  of  the  laird  of  Bas- 
santin  in  the  •  Merse,  and  born  some  time  in  the  reign  of 
king  James  IV:  He  was  sent  while  young  to  the  univer- 
sity of  Glasgow ;  where,  instead  of  applying  himself  to 
words,  he  studied  things ;  and,  while  other  young  men  of 
his  age  were  perfecting  themselves  in  style,  he  arrived  at 
a  surprising  knowledge,  for  that  time,  in  almost  all  branched 
of  the  mathematics.  -In  order  to  improve  himself  in  this 
science,  and  to  gratify  his  passion  for  seeing  other  coun- 
tries, he  travelled,  soon  after  he  quitted  the  college  of 

1  Gen.  Diet.— Memoirs  of  Literature,  vol.  IX.  XII.  and  XIII,— Niceron,-* 
Fabric.  Bib!.  Gr*c.  *  Diet,  Hist.— Gen.  Diet. 

12 


11G  BASSANTIK 

Glasgow,  through  the  Netherlands,  Switzerland,  Italy, 
and  Germany,  fixing  himself  at  last .  in  France,  where  he 
taught  the  mathematics  with  applause,  in  the  university 
of  Paris.  He  fell  in  there  with  the  common  notions  of  the 
times,  and  was  either  credulous  enough  to  entertain  a  good 
opinion  of  judicial  astrology,  or  bad  so  much  address  as  to 
make  the  credulity  of  others  useful  to  him,  by  supporting 
an  erroneous  system,  then  in  too  great  credit  for  him  to 
demolish,  if  he  had  been  disposed,  as  the  humour  of  be- 
lieving such  kind  of  predictions  never  ran  so  strong  as  at 
this  time,  nor  any  where  stronger  than  in.  that  country^ 
At  last;,  having  a  desire  to  see  his  relations,  and  spend  his 
remaining  days  in  his  own  country,  he  resolved  to  quit 
France,  where  he  had  acquired  a  high  reputation,  and 
some  fortune,  and  returned  home  in  the  year  1562.  It 
was  doubtless  to  our  author  that  sir  James  Melvil  alludes 
in  his  Memoirs,  when  he  says  that  his  brother,  sir  Robert, 
while  he  was  using  his  endeavours  to  reconcile  the  two 
queens,  Elizabeth  and  Mary,  met  with  one  Bassaptin,  a 
man  learned  in  the  high  sciences,  who  told  him  "  that  alt 
bis  travel  would  be  in  vain ;  for,  said  he,  they  will  never 
meet  together:  and  next,  there  will  never  be  anything 
but  dissembling  and  secret  hatred,  for  a  while;  and  at 
length,  captivity  and  utter  wreck  to  our  queen  from  Eng- 
land." He  added,  "  that  the  kingdom  of  England  at 
length  shall  fall,,  of  right,  to  the  crown  of  Scotland;  but 
it  shall  cost  many  bloody  battles  ;  and  the  Spaniards  shall 
be  helpers,  and  take  a  part  to  themselves  for  their  labour/' 
A  prediction  in  which  Bassantin  partly  guessed  right,  which 
it  is  likely  he  was  enabled  to  do  from  a  judicious  considera- 
tion of  probable  circumstances  and  appearances. 

It  does,  not  at  all  appear  in  what  manner  he  spent  the 
remainder  of  his  life  after  he  came  back  to  Scotland ;  but 
it  is  certain  he  did  not  survive  long,  since  his  decease  h&p* 
pened,  as  those  who  were  well  acquainted  with  him  attest, 
in  1568.  As  to  his  learning,  we  are  told  by  those  who 
admired  it  most,  it  lay  not  in  languages,  of  which,  except 
his  mother-tongue,  he  knew  none  thoroughly,  though  h«  ' 
apoke  and  taught  in  French,  but  in  a  very  incorrect  man- 
ner, and  wrote  much  worse.  He  had  very  clear  notions  in 
most  parts  of  his  writings,  and  was  far  from  being  a  con-* 
temptible  astronomer,  though  the  commendations  bestowed 
on  him  by  some  authors  very  far  surpass  his  deserts.  Hq 
was  too  much  tinctured  with  the  superstition  of  the  times, 


B  A  S  S  A  N  T  I  N.  117 

not  to  intermix  a  vast  deal  of  false,  and  even  ridiculous 
matter  in  bis  writings,  on  the  virtuous  aspects,  and  influ- 
ences of  the  planets ;  yet  in  other  respects  he  shews  much 
good  sense  and  industry,  which  render  bis  works  worth 
reading,  and  ought  to  secure  both  them  and  his  memory 
from  oblivion.  As  to  his  religion,  he  is  reported  to  have 
been  a  zealous  Protestant ;  and,  with  regard  to  his  po- 
litical principles,  he  is  said  to  have  adhered  to  the  famous 
earl  of  Murray,  then  struggling  for  that  power  which  he 
afterwards  obtained.  The  works  published  by  our  author 
were  :  X.  "  Astronomia,  Jacobi  Bassantini  Scoti,  opus  ab- 
solutissimum,"  &c.  in  which  the  observations  of  the  most 
expert  mathematicians  on  the  heavens  are  digested  into 
order  and  method,  Latin  and  French,  Geneva,  1599,  fol. 
%.  "  Paraphrase  de  l'Astrolabe,  avec  une  amplification  de 
P  usage  de  Tastrolabe,"  Lyons,  1555;  and  again  at  Paris, 
1617,  8vo.  3.  "  Super  mathematica  genethliaca ;"  i  e.  of 
the  calculation  of  nativities.  4.  "  Arithmetica."  5.  M  Mu- 
sica  secundum  Platonem."  6.  "  De  Mathesi  in  genere." 
The  very  titles  of  his  works,  joined  to  the  age  in  which 
he  flourished,  sufficiently  justify  his  right  to  a  place  in  this 
work ;  and,  though  he  might  have  foibles,  yet,  without 
doubt  his  practical  skill  was  great,  and  the  pains  he  took 
contributed  not  a  little  to  bring  in  that  accuracy  and  cor- 
rectness in  observations,  which  have  effectually  exploded 
those  superstitions  to  which,  with  other  great  men,  he  was 
too  much  addicted. l 

BASSET  (Fulk),  bishop  of  London  in  the  reign  of 
king  Henry  III.  was  brother  of  Gilbert  Basset,  one  of 
the  barons,  who  died  by  a  fall  from  his  horse,  leaving 
behind  him  one  only  son,  an  infant,  by  whose  death 
soon  after,  the  inheritance  devolved  to  Fulk.  In  1225,, 
be  was  made  provost  of  the  collegiate  church  of  St.  John 
of  Beverly,  and  in  1230,  dean  of  York.  In  December 
1241,  he  was  elected  by  the  chapter  of  London,  bishop  of 
that  see,  in  the  room  of  Roger  Niger,  both  in  regard  of 
his  family  and  his  great  virtues,  and  notwithstanding  the 
king's  recommendation  of  Peter  de  Egueblanche,.  bishop 
of  Hereford.  The  see  of  Canterbury  being  vacant  at  the 
time  of  this  prelate's  election,  he  was  not  consecrated  till 
the  9th  of  October,  1244,  at  which  tune  the  solemnity 

>  Biog.  BriU~Mackeii?je'g  Scotch  writers,  toL.  Ill,  p.  SL^ujtton^RUth, 
Pictioqary. 


118  BASSET. 

was  performed  at  London  in  the  church  of  the  Holy  Trinity. 
In  the  year  1250,  bishop  Basset  began  to  have  a  warm 
dispute  with  archbishop  Boniface,  concerning  the  right  of 
metropolitical  visitation..    The  see  of  Canterbury  had  from 
the  beginning  an  undoubted  authority  over  all  the  churches 
of  that  province,  received  appeals,  censured  offenders,  and 
occasionally  exercised  a  jurisdiction  over  the  bishops  and 
canons  of  the  cathedral  churches.     But  hitherto  solemn 
metropolitical  visitations  at  stated  times  were  not  in  use. 
Boniface  was  the  first  who  introduced  them,  and  loaded 
the  bishops  and  chapters  with  a  prodigious  expetice,  under 
the  name  of  procurations.     On  the  12th  of  May,   1250, 
be  visited  the  bishop  of  London,  and,  being  intolerably  in* 
solent,  as  well  as  avaricious^  treated  the  good  prelate  with 
the  grossest  indignities,  and  most  opprobrious  language. 
Designing  to  visit  the  chapter  of  St.  Paul's,  and  the  priory 
of  St.  Bartholomew,  he  was  opposed  by  the  canons  of  both 
places,  alleging  that  they  had  a  learned  and  diligent  bishop, 
who  was  their  proper  visitor,  and  that  they  neither  ought, 
nor  would  submit  to  any  other  visitatorial  power.     The 
archbishop  on  hearing  this,  excommunicated  the  canons, 
and  involved  the  bishop,  as  favouring  their  obstinacy,  in 
the  same  sentence.     Both  sides  appealed  to  Rome,  where 
the  archbishop,  supported  by  money  and  the  royal  favour, 
pleaded  his  cause  in   person ;    and,    notwithstanding  the 
English  clergy,  by  their  proctors,  offered  the  pope  four 
thousand  marks  to  be  exempted  from  the  archiepiscopal 
visitation,    be  obtained  a  confirmation  of  his  visitatorial 
power^  with  this  restriction  only,  that  he  should  be  mo- 
derate in  his  demand  of  procurations.  '  ( 

But  Basset  succeeded  better  in  opposing.  Rustand,  the 
pope's  legate.  The  king  and  the  pope  had  agreed  to  ex- 
tort a  large  sum  of  money  from  the  English  clergy,  and 
to  share  the  plunder..  For  this  purpose  Rustand  sum- 
moned a  council  at  London  in  October  1255,  in  which  he 
produced  a  commission  from  the  pope  to  demand  a  certain 
sum  of  them ;  but  the  bishop  of  London  rising  up,  said  : 
?'  Before  I  will  submit  to  such  great  servitude,  injury,  and 
intolerable  oppression  of  the  church,  I  will  lose  my  head." 
The  rest  of  the  prelates,  encouraged  by  his  firmness,  una- 
nimously decreed,  that  the.  pope's  demand  should,  not  be 
complied  with,  nor  any  regard  paid  to  Rustand's  authority 
or  censures.  The  legate  carried  his  complaints  to  the 
king,  who,  sending  for  the  bishop  of  London,  reviled  him 


Basset.  119 

and  threatened  him  with  the  severest  papal  censures.  To 
which  Fulk  replied,  "  The  king  and  the  pope,  though 
they  cannot  justly,  yet,  as  being  stronger  than  roe, 
may  force  my  bishopric  from  me ;  they  may  take  away 
the  mitre,  but  the  helmet  will  remain  :"  and  this  steadi- 
ness, and  the  decree  of  the  council,  totally  disconcerted 
the  scheme.  #■ 

In  1256,  this  prelate  began  to  build  the  church  of  St. 
Faith,  near  St.  Paul's,  on  the  spot  which  king  John  had 
formerly  given  to  the  bishops  and  chapter  of  London  for 
a  market.  In  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he  is  said  to  have 
inclined  to  the  side  of  the  barons.  But  we  have  only  the 
authority  of  Matthew  Paris  for  this,  while  bishop  Godwin 
informs  us  that  our  other  historians^  who  acknowledge  Basset 
to  have  been  a  good  man,  and  a  wise,  pious,  and  vigilant 
pastor,  censure  him  for  not  joining  the  barons,  but  re- 
maining faithful  to  bis  prince,  He  died  of  the  plague  in 
1259,  having  sat  near  fifteen  years  from  the  time  of  his 
consecration,  and  was  buried  May  25,  in  St.  Paul's  church. 
Bishop  Basset  founded  two  chantries  in  his  cathedral  church, 
near  the  altar  of  the  blessed  virgin,  for  himself  and  his 
father  and  mother.  He  also  bequeathed  to  his  church  a 
golden  apple,  two  rich  chests  for  relics,  some  ecclesi- 
astical vestments,  and  several  books  relatipg  to  church 
matters.*  •  ' 

BASSET  (Peter),  esq.  a  gentleman  of  a  good  family, 
and  a  writer  in  the  fifteenth  century,  was  chamberlain,  or 
gentleman  of  the  privy  chamber,  to  king  Henry  V.  on 
whom  he  was  a  constant  attendant  and  an  eye-witness  of 
most  of  his  glorious  actions  both  at  home  and  abroad ;  all 
which  he  partipularly  described.  Beginning  at  his  ten^ 
detest  years,  he  gave  a  full  and  exact  account  of  Henry's 
several  expeditions  into  France;  his  glorious  victories, 
large  conquests,  and  illustrious  triumphs  in  that  kingdom  ; 
his  advantageous  and  honourable  peace  with  Charles  VI. 
his  marriage  with  the  princess  Catherine,  his  coronation  at 
Paris  ;  and,  finally,  his  death,  and  the  coronation  of  king 
Henry  VI.  his  son  and  successor.  These  several  remark- 
able events  Peter  Basset  comprized  in  one  volume,  which 
he  entitled  "The  Actes  of  king  Henry  V."  This  book 
was  never  printed;  and  was  said  to  be  extant  in  manu- 
script in  the  college  of  heralds,  and  perhaps  in  some  Other 

*  Biog.  Brit. 


120  BASSET, 

places ;  but  upon  the  closest  examination  it  appears  that 
he  is  originally  quoted  only  by  Edward  Hall,  in  his  Chro- 
nicle, and  perhaps  by  Bale.  What  has  been  quoted  out 
of  his  writings,  either  by  Mr.  Thomas  Goodwin  in  his 
"  History  of  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Fifth,"  or  by  other 
historians  within  that  period,  is  visibly  borrowed  from  Hall. 
Dr.  Nicolson  mentions  Basset  only  upon  the  authority  of 
Pits,  who  had  taken  his  account  from  Bale. 

In  one  particular  he  .differs  from  the  rest  of  king  Henry 
the  Fifth's  historians  :  for  whereas  Monstrelet  says  that 
that  prince  died  of  a  St.  Anthony's  fire;  others,  of  a  fever 
and  dysentery  ;  or  of  the  disease  of  St.  Fiacre,  which  is  a 
flux  accompanied  with  the  haemorrhoids;  Basset,  who 
was  with  him  at  the  time  of  his  decease,  affirms  that  he 
died  of  a  pleurisy.  Basset  flourished  about  the  year  1430, 
under  the  reign  of  Henry  VI. l 

BASSEVlLLE  (N.  I.  Hugonbe),  a  Frenchman,  who 
was,  unfortunately  for  him,  sent  to  Rome  as  ambassador. 
At  the  commencement  of  the  revolution,  he  was  editor  of 
the  journal  called  the  "  Mercure,"  with  Mallet- Dupan, 
and  afterwards  of  the  "  Journal  d'etat  et  du  citoyen,"  be- 
gun by  Carra.  Having  made  diplomatic  affairs  his  ^par- 
ticular study,  he  was  sent  to  Home,  in  1792,  as  envoy 
extraordinary,  but  was  so  unpopular  as  to  be  insulted  in 
that  city  whenever  he  made  his  appearance.  At  length,  on 
Jan.  13,  1793,  the  populace,  irritated  at  his  wearing  the 
French  cockade,  pelted  him  with  stones  until  he  reached 
the  house  of  the  banker,  Monette,  where  he  received  a 
wound  from  one  of  the  mob,  which  proved  fatal  in  about 
twenty-four  hours.  Not  content  with  this  murder,  the  in- 
surgents set  fire  to  the  French  academy  des  eleves  in 
Rome,  and  insulted  many  of  the  students.  It  is  said  that 
this  insurrection  was  occasioned  by  the  substitution  of  a 
new  coat  of  arms,  probably  in  the  taste  of  the  French  re- 
volutionists. Basseville  was  a  member  of  several  academies, 
agd  wrote  :  1.  "Elemens  de  Mythologie,"  8vo.  2.  "  Pre- 
cis historique  sur  la  vie  du  Genevois  Lefort,  principal 
ministre  de  Pierre -le- Grand,  gi>nd  amiral  de  Russie," 
1786.  3.  "  Memoires  historiques  et  politiques  sur  la  Re- 
volution de  France,'*   1790,  2  vols.  8vo.9 

BASSI.     See  POLIZIANO. 

BASSI  (Laura  Maria  Catherina),  the  wife  of  Dr. 
Joseph  Verati,  a  very  ingenious  lady,  was  born  in  1 7 12, 

1  Biog.  Brit  *  Diet.  Historique. 


B  A  S  S  I.  121 

and  died  at  Bologna,  of  which  she  was  a  native,  in  1778. 
Such* were  her  acknowledged  talents  and  learning,  that,* 
in  1732,  she  was  honoured  with  a  Doctor's  degree,  after 
having  disputed  publicly  in  Latin,  and  her  reputation 
became  afterwards  completely  established  by  a  course  of 
lectures  on  experimental  philosophy,  which  she  delivered 
from  1745  to  the  time  of  her  death.  Madame  de  Bocage, 
in  her  "  Letters  on  Italy,*'  informs  us  that  she  attended 
one  of  those  lectures,  in  which  Madame  Bassi  developed 
the  phenomena  of  irritability,  with  precision  and  depth. 
The  greater  part  of  the  literati  of  Europe,  to  whom  she 
Was  well  known]  bore  testimony  to  her  learning,  particu- 
larly in  the  Greek,  Latin,  French,  and  Italian  ;  nor  was 
she  less  distinguished  for  her  numerous  exertions  of  charity 
to  the  poor  and  the  orphan.  We  do  not  find  that  she  pub- 
lished anything,  but  was  the  theme  of  much  poetical  praise.- 
A  collection  of  these  tributes  of  applause  appeared  in  1732, 
with  her  portrait,  and  an  inscription,  "  L.  M.  C.  Bassi, 
Phil.  Doct  Coll.  Academ.  Institut.  Scientiar.  Societ.  JEtat. 
Ann.  xx."  and  with  the  following  allusion  to  Petrarch's 
Laura: 

"  Laura,  vale,  ingenio  quae  et  carmine  nota  Petrarchae. 
Laura  haec  eloquio,  et  mente  Petrarcha  sibi."  * 

BASSIANUS.     SeeLANDUS. 

BASSIUS  (Henry),  a  surgeon  and  anatomist  of  con- 
siderable reputation,  was  born  at  Bremen  in  1690,  whence, 
in  1713,  he  went  to  Halle,  and  studied  medicine  under 
the  ablest  professors.  In  1715  he  removed  to  Strasburgh, 
and  afterwards  to  Basle,  where  he  confined  his  researches 
entirely  to  anatomy  and  surgery.  In  1718  he  took  his 
doctor's  degree  at  Halle,  and  some  time  after  was  ap- 
pointed professor  extraordinary  of  anatomy  and  surgery, 
which  office  he  held  until  his  death,  in  1754.  He  pub- 
lished: 1.  "  Disputatio  de  Fistula  ani  feliciter  curanda," 
Halle,  1718.  This,  was  his  inaugural  thesis,  and  Hallet 
thought  it  so  excellent  a  performance  that  he  inserted  it 
among  his  "  Theses,"  and  Macquart  translated  it  inty 
French,  Paris,  1759,  12mo.  In  this  treatise  he  discovery 
a  considerable  degree  of  conformity  between  the  practice; 
of  the  ancients  and  moderns  in  the  cure  of  the  fi^tulsu 
2.  "  Grundlicher  Beritcht  oon  bandagen,"  Leipsic,  1720, 
and  1723,  8vo,  and  translated  into  Dutch.     3.  ".  Obser- 

i  Diet.  Hiatorique.— Republic  of  Letters,  vol.  XH.  p.  318. 


122  '  B  A  S  S  I  U  S. 

vationes  anatomico-chirurgico-medicae,"  ftalle,  17ii,  Svo. 
In  this  there  are  many  judicious  reflections  and  cases,  ac- 
companied by  figures  descriptive  of  some  instruments  of 
his  invention.  4.  "  Tractatus  de  morbis  venereis,"  Leip-* 
sic,  1764,  8vo,  a  posthumous  work.  Bassius  published 
also  in  German,  "  Notes  on  the  Surgery  of  Nuck,"  Halle, 
1728,  8VO.1 

BASSOL  (John),  a  native  of  Scotland  in  the  thirteenth 
and  fourteenth  centuries,  applied  in  youth  to  the  study 
of  polite  literature  and  philosophy,  after  which  he  studied 
divinity  at  Oxford,  under  Duns  Scotus,  with  whom  he 
went  to  Paris,  in  1304.  After  continuing  his  studies  for 
some  time  at  that  university,  he  entered  into  the  order  of 
the  Minorites,  in  1313.  Being  sent  by  the  general  of  the 
order  to  Rheims,  he  studied  medicine,  and  taught  there 
for  seven  or  eight  years,  with  much  credit,  upon  "  the 
Master  of  the  Sentences."  In  1322  he  was  sent  to  Mech- 
lin, in  Brahant,  where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  days 
in  teaching  theology,  and  died  in  that  city  in  the  year 
1347.  We  have  of  his,  "  Commentaria  seu  Lecturae  in 
quatuor  Libros  Sententiarum,"  Paris,  1517,  fol.  a  work 
which  was  in  such  high*  reputation  in  his  day  as  to  procure 
him  from  his  brethren  the  schoolmen,  the  title  of  "  Doctor 
Ordinatissimus,"  in  allusion  to  his  method  and  perspi- 
cuity. In  the  same  volume  are  "  Miscellanea  Philosophica 
et  Medica."8 

BASSOMPIERRE  (Francois  de),  colonel-general  of 
the  Swiss  guards,  and  marshal  de  France  in  1622,  was 
born  in  Lorraine  of  a  family  of  distinction,  April  22,  1579. 
He  served  in  the  war  of  the  Savoy  in  1600,  and  in  1603 
went  into  Hungary,  where  he  was  solicited  to  serve  under 
the  emperor,  but  he  preferred  the  service  of  France.  In 
1617  he  cotnmanded  the  ordnance  at  the  siege  of  Chateau- 
Porcien,  and  a  short  time  after  was  wounded  at  the  siege 
of  Rhetel.  He  served  afterwards,  as  marshal  of  the  camp, 
at  the  battle  of  Pont-de-Ce,  the  sieges  of  St.  John  d'An- 
geli,  of  Montpellier,  &c.  In  1622,  when  made  a  marshal 
of  France,  he  was  colonel  of  the  Swiss,  and  at  the  same 
time  sent  as  ambassador  extraordinary  to  Spain.  In  1625 
he  served  in  the  same  capacity  in  Swisserland,  and  in  1626 
in  England.  He  was  also  at  the  siege  of  Rochelle,  and, 
as  on  all  other  occasions,  was  distinguished  for  skill  and 

l  Diet.  Hist.-— Haller,  Bibl.  An  at.. 

t  Mackenzie's  Scotch  Writers,  to!.  1«— Cave,  vol,  II.— Dupia. 


B  A  S  S.O-M  PIERRE.  12S 

bravery,  but  the  cardinal  de  Richelieu,  who  bad  to  com- 
plain of  his  caustic  tongue,  and  who  dreaded  all  those  by 
whom  he  thought  he  might  one  day  be  eclipsed,  caused 
him  to  be  imprisoned  in  the  Bastilld  in  1631.  Bassompierre 
had  foreseen  the  ascendancy  which  the  capture  of  Rochelle, 
the  bulwark  of  the  Protestants,  would  give  to  that  minister ; 
and  therefore  was  heard  to  say  on  that  occasion :  ".You 
will  see  that  we  shall  be  fools  enough  to  take  Rochelle.'* 
He  passed  the  time  of  his  confinement  in  reading  and 
writing.  One  day  as  he  was  busily  turning  over  the  leaves- 
of  the  Bible,  Malleville  asked  him  what  he  was  looking  for  ? 
"  A  passage  that  I  cannot  find,"  returned  the  marechal,  "a 
way  to  get  out  of  prison."  Here  also  he  composed  his 
"  Memoirs,"  printed  at  Cologne  in  1665,  3  vols.  Like  the 
generality  of  this  sort  of  books,  it  contains  some  curious 
anecdotes,  and  a  great  many  trifles.  They  begin  at  1598, 
and  terminate  in  1631.  His  detention  lasted  twelve  years, 
and  it  was  not  till  after  the  death  of  Richelieu  that  he  re- 
gained his  liberty.  There  is  also  by  him  a  "  Relation  of 
his  emhassies,"  much  esteemed,  1665  and  1668,  2  vols. 
J2mo  ;>  likewise  "  Remarks  on  the  history  of  Louis  XIII." 
by  Duplets,  in  12mo,  a  work  somewhat  too  satirical,  but 
curious.  Bassompierre  lived  till  the  1 2th  of  October  1*546, 
when  he  was  found  dead  in  his  bed.  He  was  a  great  dealer 
in  bons  mots,  which  were  not  always  delicate.  On  his 
coming  out  of  the  Bastille,  as  be  was  become  extremely  cor- 
pulent, fqr  want  of  exercise,  the  queen  asked  him,  "Quand 
il  .accoucheroit ?"  —."Quand  j'aurais  trouv6  une  sage 
femme,"  answered  he.;  which-  will  not  bear  a  translation, 
as-  the  wit*  turns'  on  the  double  meaning  .of  sage  fenime, 
.which  signifies  either  a  midwife,  or  a  sensible  woman, 
Louis  X11I.  asked,  him  his  age,  almost  at  tile  same  time: 
he  made  himself  no  mpre  than  fifty.  The  king  seeming 
surprised :  "  Sir,"  answered  Bassompierre,  I  subtract  ten 

•  years  passed  in  the  Bastille,  because  I  did  not  employ 
them  in  your  service  "     Although  he  b*d  been  employed 

*  in  embassies,  negociation  was  not  his  principal  talent ;  but 
he  possessed  other  qualities  that  qualified  him  for  an  am- 
bassador. He  was  a  very  handsome  man,  had  great  pre- 
sence of  mind,  was  affable,  lively,  and  agreeable,  very  po- 
lite and  generous.  After  his  liberation  from  the  Bastille, 
the  duchess  of  Aiguillon,  niece  of  the  cardinal  de  Riche- 
lieu, offered  him  five  hundred  thousand  livres  to  dispose  of 
as  he  should  think  proper  :  "  Madam/9  said  Bassompierre, 


124  BA'SSOMPIERRR    , 

as  he  thanked  her,  '<  your  uncle  has  done  me  too  much 
harm,  to  allow  me  to  receive  so  much  good  of  you."  He 
spoke  all  the  languages  of  Europe  with  the  same  facility  as 
his  own.  Play  and  women  were  his  two  predominant  pas- 
sions. Being  secretly  informed  that  he  was  to  be  arrested, 
be  rose  before  day,  and  burnt  upwards  of  six  thousand 
letters,  which  he  had  received  from  ladies  of  the  city  and 
the  court. l 

BAST  A  (George),  an  able  military  commander,  origi- 
nally of  Epirus,  was  born  at  Rocca  near  Tarentum.  The 
duke  of  Parma,  under  whom  he  served,  was  highly  satis- 
fied with  the  success  of  all  the  affairs  he  entrusted  him 
with.  In  1596  he  threw  provisions  into  Fere,  besieged  by 
Henry  IV.  an  enterprise  which  was  executed  with  a  secre- 
cy and  celerity  that  did  him  great  honour,  and  the  empe- 
ror afterwards  engaged  him  in  his  service.  He  signalized 
himself  in  Hungary  and  in  Transylvania,  where  he  con* 
quered  and  reduced  the  rebels.  He  died  about  1607, 
leaving  two  works  which  have  preserved  his  memory^ 
1.  "  Maestro  di  campo  generate,"  Venice^  1606.  2.  uGo* 
verno  della  Cavalleria  leggiera,"  Francfort,  1612.  Naude, 
in  his  treatise  on  Military  Study,  recommends  these  trea- 
tises, as  having  acquired  and  deserving  universal  approba- 
tion. • 

BASTARD  (Thomas),  a  clergyman  and  poet,  was  bora 
at  Blandiord  in  Dorsetshire,  and  educated  at  Winchester- 
school,  from  whence  he  removed  to  New  college,  Oxford, 
where  he  was  chosen  perpetual  fellow  in  1588,  and  two 
years  after  took  the  degree  of  B.  A.  but  indulging  too 
much  his  passion  for  satire,  he  was  expelled  the  college  for 
a  libel  Not  long  after,  he  was  made  chaplain  to  Thomas* 
earl  of  Suffolk,  lord  treasurer  of  England,  through  whose 
interest  he  became  vicar  of  Bere  Regis,  and  rector  of  Ai- 
mer in  his  native  county,  having  some  time  before  taken 
the  degree  of  M.  A.  He  was  a  person  of  great  natural 
Endowments,  a  celebrated  poet,  and  in  his  latter  jrears  an 
excellent  preacher.  His  conversation  was  witty  and  face- 
tious, which  made  bis  company  be  courted  by  all  ingenious 
men.  He  was  thrice  married,  as  appears  from  one  of  his 
epigrams.  Towards  the  latter  end  ot  his  life,  being  disor- 
dered in  his  senses,  and  brought  into  debt,  h$  was  con- 
fined in  the  prison  of  All- Hallows  parish  in  Dorchester, 

\  Mortri^-Z)icL  Hitt.  t  Gen.  Dict,«wiMca?eiv 


BASTARD,  125 

where  dying  iti  a  very  obscure  and  mean  condition,  he  was 
buried  in  the  church-yard  belonging  to  that  parish,  April 
the  19th,  1618. 

His  poetical  performances  are,  1.  "  Chrestoleros ;  seven 
bookes  of  Epigrames,"  London,  1598,  12mo,  of  which  au 
account  may  be  seen  in  the  €!ensura  Literaria,  vol.  IV. 
2.  "  Magna  Britannia,"  a  Latin  poem  in  three  books,  de- 
dicated to  king  James  I.  London,  1605,  4to.  Besides 
which,  there  is  in  the  king's  library,  "  Jacobo  regi  I.  car- 
men gratulatoriiun,"  Under  this  head  we  may  mention 
his  libels,  two  of  which  Mr.  Wood  met  with  in  his  collec- 
tion of  libels  or  lampoons,  written  by  several  Oxford  stu- 
dents in  the  reign  of  queen  Elizabeth.  One  of  them  is 
entitled  "  An  admonition  to  the  city  of  Oxford,"  or  his  li- 
bel entitled  "  Mar-prelate's  Bastardini ;"  wherein  he  re-' 
fleets  upon  all  persons  of  note  in  Oxford,  who  were  sus- 
pected of  criminal  conversation  with  other  men's  wives,  or 
with  common  strumpets.  The  other,  made  after  his  expul- 
sion, and  in  which  he  disclaims  the  former,  begins  thus : 
"  Jenkin,  why  man  I  why  Jenkin?  fie  for  shame,"  &c.  But 
neither  of  these  were  printed.  He  also  published  "  Five 
Sermons,"  Lond.  1615,  4to ;  and  in  the  same  year  a  collec- 
tion of  "  Twelve  Sermons,"  4to.  Warton  speaks  of  him 
as  an  elegant  classical  scholar,  and  better  qualified  for  that 
specie*  of  occasional  pointed  Latin  epigram,  established  by 
his  fellow  collegian,  John  Owen,  than  for  any  sort  of  Eng- 
lish versification.  ' 

BASTIDE  (John  Francis  de  la),  a  very  industrious 
French  writer,  was  born  at  Marseilles,  July  15,  1724,  and 
after  studying  in  his  own  country,  came  to  Paris,  where  he 
engaged  in  a  great  variety  of  literary  enterprises.  He  was 
editor  of  the  "  Bibliotheque  universelie  des  Romans,"  Pa- 
ris, 1775 — 1789,  112  vols.  12 mo,  and  the  "  Choix  des 
ancieos  Mercures,"  1757— -1764,  in  108  vols.  12 mo.  He 
also  published,  1.  "  L'etre  pensant,"  a  kind  of  romance, 
Paris,  1755,  12mo;  2*  "  Les  choses  comme  ont  doit  tes 
voir,"  ibid.  1758,  Bvo,  in  which  he  endeavours  partly  to 
excuse,  and  partly  to  reforn^  what  is  wrong  in  morals  and 
manners.  3.  "  Le  Nouveau  Spectateur,"  2  vols.  8vo,  an 
attempt  at  a  periodical  essay  in  the  manner  of  the  Specta- 
tor, but  without  the  materials  which  a  free  country  fur* 

*  Biog.  Brit.— Ath.  O*.  vol.  II.— Cens.  Lit.  vols.  II.  and  IV.— Phillips's  The- 
atrun,  edit.  1800,  p.  £69.«*RUson's  Bib).  Poetica.  — Warton's  Hist,  of  Poetry, 
tvl.  IV.  p.  10,  71. 


Iff  BAS-TID'E?- 

Irishes.  4.  "  Aventures  de  Victoire  Pohty','*  Amsterdam 
and  Paris,  1758,  2.  vols.  12mo.  6,  *t  Confessions  d' on  Fat,** 
Paris,  1749,  12mo.  6.  "  Le  Depit  et  le  Voyage/'  a  poem 
with  notes,  and  "Lettres  V&nitiennes,"  Paris,  1771,  8vo. 

7.  V  Le  Monde  comme  il  est,"  iWd. .  1760,  4  vol*.   12mo. 

8.  ,"  Le  Tombeau  Philosftphique,"  Amsterdam,  »175l, 
12mq.  9.  "  Les  Tetes  Eolles,"  Paris,  1753,  12mo.  10. 
"  Varietes.  Litteraires,  Galantes,.&c»  -ibitt.  1774,  8 vo..  1 1. 
"  Le  Tribunal  de  V Amour,"  ibid.;  1730^  12mo.  12.  *<  La 
TrentainedeCythere,"  Paris,  1753,  l£mo.  In  the  opinion 
of  his  countrymen,,  there  are  few  of  these  works' which  rise 
above  mediocrity,  although  the  author  generally  pleases  by 
his  sprightly  manner.  The  Diet.  Hist,  to  which  we  are 
chiefly  indebted  for  this  article,  does  not  mention  the  time 
of  his  death.  There  was  another  la  Ifatstide,' called  the  el* 
der,  who  published,  in  1773,  two  volumes  of  a  history  of 
French  literature,  but  "how  far  connected  with  the  author 
we  know  not.  *  *  •  • 

BASTON  (Robert),  a  poet  of  some  note  in  ihe  four- 
teenth century,  and  author  of  several  works,  was  born  in 
Yorkshire,  not  far  from  Nottingham.  In  his  youth  he  be- 
came a  Carmelite  monk,  and  afterwards  prior  of  the  convent 
of  that  order  at  Scarborough.  Bale  says  that  he  was  like- 
wise poet  laureat  and  public  orator  at  Oxford,  which  Wood 
thinks  doubtful.  Edward  I.  (not  Edward  II.  as  Mr.  Warton 
says)  carried  him  with  him  in  his  expedition  to  Scotland  in 
1304,  to  be  an  eye-witness  and  celebrate  his  conquest  of 
Scotland  in  verse.  Holinshed  mentions  this  circumstance 
as  a  singular  proof  of  Edward's  presumption  and  confi- 
dence in  his  undertaking  against  Scotland,  but  it  appears 
that  a  poet  was  a  stated  officer  hi  the  royal  retinue  when* 
the  king  went  to  war.  On  this  occasion  Baston  was  pecu- 
liarly unfortunate,  being  taken  prisoner;  and  compelled  by 
the  Scots  to  write  a  pauegyric  oft  Robert  Bruce,  as  the 
price  of  his  ransom.  This  was  the,  hibre  provoking,  as  hie- 
had  just  before  written  on  the  siege  of  Stirling  castle  in, 
honour  of  his  master,  which  performance  is  extant  in  For- 
dun's  Scoti-chronicon.  His  works,  :  according  to  Bate  atid 
Pits,  were  written  under  these  titles :  1.  M  De  Strivilniensi 
obsidione  ;"  of  the  Siege  of  Stirling^  a  poem  in  one  book.- 
2.  "  De  altero  Scotorum  Bello,"  in  one  book.  &  "  De 
Scotiae  Guerris  variis,"  in  one  book.     4.  "  De  variis  mundi 

*  Diet.  Hist. 


B  A  S  tO  N.  12* 

Statibus,"  in  one  book.  5.  "  De  Sacerdotum  luxuriis,'* 
in  one  book. .  6.  "  Contra  Artistas,"  in  one  book.  7.  "  De 
Divite  et  Lazaro."  -  8.  "  Epistolae  ad  diversos,"  in  one 
book.  9. ."  Sermones  Synodales,"  in  one  book.  10.  A 
Book  of  Poems;  and,  11.  A  volume  of  tragedies  and  co- 
medies in  English,  the  existence  of  which  is  doubtful.  His 
other  poems  are  in  monkish  Latin  hexameters.*  He'  died 
about  1310,  and  was  buried  at  Nottingham. l 

BASTWICK  (Dr.  John),  an  English  physician  of  the 
last  century,  has  acquired  some  celebrity,  more  from  the 
punishment  he  suffered  for  writing,  than  for  the  merit  of 
wljat  he  has  written.  He  was  born  at  Writtle  in  Essex, 
1593,  and  studied  at  Emanuel  college,  Cambridge,  .but 
leaving  the  university  without  a  degree,  he  travelled  for 
nine  years,  and  was  made  doctor  of  physic  at  Pa,dua.  He 
printed  at  Leyden,  1624,  a  small  piece  entitled  "  Elenchus 
Religionis  Papistic®,  in  quo  probatur  neque  Apostolicam, 
neque  Catholicam,  imo  neque  Romanam  esse,"  24mo. 
Afterwards,  in  England,  he  "published  M  Fiagellum  Pohtifi- 
cis  et  Episcoporum  latialium;"  and  though  he  declared,  in 
the  preface,  that  he  intended  nothing  against  such  bishops 
as  acknowledged  their  authority  from  kings  and  emperors ; 
yet  our  English  prelates  imagining  that  some  things  in  his 
book  were  levelled  at  them,  he  was  cited  before  the  high 
commission  court,  fined  1000/.  and  sentenced  to  be  excom- 
municated, to  be  debarred  the  practice  of  physic,  to  have 
his  book  burnt,  to  pay  cofcts  of  suit,  and  to  remain  in  prison 
till  he  made  a  recantation.  Accordingly  he  was  confined 
two  years  in  the  Gate-house,  where  he  wrote  "  Apologe- 
ticus  ad  Proesules  Anglicanos,"  &c.  and  a  book  called 
u  The  New  Litany,"  in  which  he  taxed  the  bishops  witK 
an  inclination  to  popery,  and  exclaimed  against  the  severity 
and  injustice  of  the  high-commission's  proceedings  against 
him.  For  this  he  was  sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  of  5000/.  to 
stand  in  the  pillory  in  the  Palace  Yard,  Westminster,  and 
there  lose  his  ears,  and  to  suffer  perpetual  imprisonment  in 
a  remote  part  of  the  kingdom.  The  same  senjj#nce  was, 
the  same  yeatr,  1637,  passed  and  executed  u^on  Prynne 
and  Burton.  Bastwick  was  conveyed  to  Lauriceston  castle 
in  Cornwall,  and  thence  removed  to  St  IVJdry's  castle  in  the 
Isle  of  Scilly,  where  his  nearest  relations  were-  not  permit- 
ted to  visit  him.     The  house  of  commons,  •  however,  •  in 

1  Biog.  Brit— Winstanley  and  Jaoob. — Wanton's  Hist  «f  Poetry,  vol.  I.  p. 
232.— -Bait  and  Pits,— Leland.— Saxii  Onomastieon. 


* — 


J23  B  A  S  T  W  I  C  K. 

1640,  ordered  him,  as  well  as  the  others,  to  be  brought 
hack  to  London;  and  they  were  attended  all  the  way  thi- 
ther by  vast  multitudes  of  people,  with  loud  acclamations 
of  joy.  The  several  proceedings  against  them  were  voted 
illegal,  unjust,  and  against  the  liberty  of  the  subject ;  their 
sentence  reversed ;  their  fine  remitted ;  and  a  reparation 
of  5000/.  each  ordered  out  of  the  estates  of  the  archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  the  high-commissioners,  and  other  lords, 
who  had  voted  against  them  in  the  star-chamber. 

Bastwick  was  alive  in  1648,  but  when  he  died  is  uncer* 
tain.  He  appears  to  have  been  one  of  those  turbulent  lovers 
of  popularity,  who  lose  their  fame  by  endeavouring  to  carry 
the  principles  of  liberty  into  practice.  He  evidently  quar- 
relled with  the  leaders  of  some  of  the  parties  which  arose 
out  of  the  convulsions  of  the  times,  and  was  suffered  to  de- 
part in  obscurity.  This  is  evident  from  the  titles  of  the 
pamphlets  he  published,  besides  those  above-mentioned, 
which  were,  1.  "  Independency  not  God's  Ordinance  ;'* 
to  which  H.  Burton  wrote  an  answer  under  %this  title : 
"  Vindiciae  Veritatis ;  truth  vindicated  against  calumny* 
In  a  brief  answer  to  Dr.  Bastwick' s  two  late  books,  entitled 
*  Independency  not  God's  Ordinance,*"  Loud.  1645,  4to. 
2.  "  The  utter  routing  of  the  whole  army  of  all  the  Inde- 
pendents and  Sectaries,  with  the  total  overthrow  of  their 
monarchy."     3.  "  Defence  of  Himself  against  Lilburn." l 

BATE  (George),  an  eminent  physician,  was  born  at 
Maid's  Morton  near  Buckingham,  1608.  At  fourteen 
years  of  age  he  became  one  of  the  clerks  of  New  college, 
in  Oxford  5  from  whence  he  was  removed  to  Queen's  col- 
lege, and  afterwards  to  St.  Edmund's  hall.  When  he  had 
taken  the  degrees  of  bachelor  and  M.  A.  he  entered  on  the 
study  of  physic ;  and  having  taken  a  bachelor's  degree  in 
that  faculty  in  1629,  he  obtained  a  licence,  and  for  some 
years  practised  in  and  about  Oxford,  chiefly  amongst  the 
Puritans,  who  at  that  time  considered  him  as  one  of  their 
party.  In  1637  he  took  his  degree  of  doctor  in  physic*, 
and  bec^pae  so  eminent  in  his  profession,  that  when  king 
Charles  kept  his  court  at  Oxford,  he  was  his  principal  phy- 
sician. When  the  king's  affairs  declined,  Dr.  Bate  re- 
moved ta  London,  where  he  accommodated  himself  so  well 
to  the  times,  that  he  became  physician  to  the  Charter- 
house, fellow  of  the  college  of  physicians,  and  afterwards 

i  Bibs.  Brit. 


BATE.  129 

principal  physician  to  Oliver  Cromwell,  whom,  he  id. said  to 
have  highly  flattered.  Upon  the  restoration  he  got  into 
favour  with  the  royal  party,  was  made  principal  physician 
to  the  king,  and  fellow  of  the  royal  society ;  and  this,  we 
are  told,  was  owing  to  a  report  raised  on  very  slender 
foundation,  and  asserted  only  by  his  friends,  that  he  gave 
the  protector  a  dose  which  hastened  his  death.  He  died 
at  his  house  in  Hatton-garden,  April  19,  1668,  and  not 
1669,  as  in  the  Biog.  Brit.;  and  was  buried  at  Kingston- 
upon-Thames. 

His  principal  work  is  an  account  of  the  rebellion,  with  a 
narrative  of  the  regal  and  parliamentary  privileges,  printed 
under  the  title  of  *'  Elenchus  Motuum  nuperorum  in  An- 
glia,  simul  ac  Juris  Regis  et  Parliamentarii  brevis  narratio,'* 
Paris,  1649,  and  Frankfort,   1650,  4to.     Before  it  went  to 
the  press,  it  was  communicated  to  Dr.  Peter  Heylyn,  who 
made  several  observations  on  it,  greatly  tending  to  the  ho- 
nour of  the  king  and  the  church.     The  first  part  of  the 
Elenchus -was  translated  into  English  by  an  unknown  hand, 
and  printed  at  London  in  1652,  in  8vo.     The  second  part, 
in  which  the  author  had  the  assistance  of  some  papers  com- 
municated to  him  by  the  lord-chancellor  Hyde,  afterwards 
earl  of  Clarendon,  was  printed  in  Latin  at  London  in  1661, 
at  Amsterdam  the  year  following  in  8vo,  and  reprinted  with 
the  first  part  at  London  in  1663,  in  8vo.    With  such  assist- 
ance this  may  be  supposed  an  impartial  work ;  but  he  has 
been  accusedof  leaning  too.  much  to  the  Puritans,  among 
whom  he  appears  to  have  lived  much  in  the  early  part  of 
his  life.     In  1676,  a  third  part  was  added  to  the  "  Elen- 
chus," also  in  Latin,  by  Dr.  Thomas  Skinner,  a  physician, 
but  is  inferior  to  the  former*     In   1685,  the  whole  was 
translated  by  A.  Lovel,  M.  A.  of  Cambridge.     The  only 
answer  to  Dr.  Bate's  work,  entitled  "  Elenchus  Elenchi,7* 
was  written  by  Robert  Pugh,  an  officer  in  the  king's  army, 
and  printed  at  Paris  in  1664,  8vo,  to  which  Bate  replied; 
but  we  do  riot  find  that  his  reply  was  published.     Dr.  Bate 
wrote  likewise,  1.  "  The  Royal  Apology;  or,  the  declara- 
tion of  the  Commons  in  parliament,  Feb.  11,  1647,"   1648, 
4to.     2.  *  De  Rachitide,  sive  morbo  puerili,  qui  vulgo  the 
Rickets  dicitur,"  Lond.  1650,  8vo.     Mr.  Wood  tells  us,  the 
doctor  was  assisted  in  this  work  by  Francis  Glisson  and  Aha- 
suerus  Regemorter,  doctors  of  physic,  and  fellows  of  the 
college  of  physicians,  and  that  it  was  afterwards  translated 
into  English  by  Philip  Armin,  and  printed  at  London, 
Vol.  IV.  K 


130  BATE. 

1651,  8vo ;  and  about  the  same  time  translated  by  Nicolas 
Culpepper,  who  styles  himself  *  student  in  physic  and  as- 
trology.' 3.«  After  Dr.  Bate's  death  came  out  a  dispensato- 
ry in'  Latin,  entitled  Cf  Pharmacopceia  Bateana;  in  qua 
octoginta  circiter  pharmaca  pleraque  omnia  e  praxiGeorgii 
Batei  regi  Carolo  2do  proto-medici  excerpta,"  Lond.  1688 
and  1691.  It  was  published  by  Mr.  James  Shipton,  apo- 
thecary, and  translated  into  English  by  Dr.  William  Sal- 
mon, under  the  title  of  "  Bate's  Dispensatory,"  and  was 
long  a  very  popular  work. — -There  was  another  George 
Bate,  who  wrote  the  "  Lives  of  the  Regicides,"  London, 
1661,  Svo.1 

BATE,  in  Latin  BATUS  (John),  prior  of  the  monas- 
tery of  Carmelites  at  York  in  the  fifteenth  century,  was 
born  in  Northumberland,  and  educated  at  York  in  the 
study  of  the  liberal  arts,  in  which  he  was  much  encouraged 
by  the  favour  of  some  persons  his  patrons,  who  were  at  the 
expence  of  sending  him  to  Oxford,  to  finish  his  stndies  in 
that  university.  Bate  abundantly  answered  the  hopes  con- 
ceived of  him,  and  became  an  eminent  philosopher  and 
divine,  and  particularly  remarkable  for  his  skill  in  the 
Greek  tongue.  He  took  the  degree  of  D.  D.  at  Oxford, 
and  afterwards  distinguished  himself  as  an  author.  The 
Carmelites  of  York  were  so  sensible  of  his  merit,  that,  upon 
a  vacancy,  they  offered  him  the  government  of  their  house, 
which  he  accepted,  and  discharged  that  office  with  gredt 
prudence  and  success.  He  died  the  26th  of  January  1429, 
in  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  ^Henry  VI,  Bale,  who 
cannot  refuse  him  the  character  of  a  learned  man,  asserts 
that  he  adulterated  the  word  of  God  with  false  doctrines,  to 
support  the  blasphemies  of  antichrist,  and  defiled  his  own 
writings  with  the  filth  of  Paganism.  These  writings,  as 
enumerated  by  Leland,  Bale,  and  Pits,  consist  of  the  fol-  x 
lowing  treatises,  1.  "  On  the  construction  of  the  Parts  of 
Speech."  2.  "  On  Porphyry's  Universalia."  3.  "  On 
Aristotle's  Predicaments."  4.  "  On  Poretanus's  Six  Prin- 
ciples." 5.  "  Questions  concerning  the  Soul."  6.  "  Of 
the  Assumption  of  the  Virgin."  7.  "  An  introduction  to 
the  Sentences."  8.  i(  The  praise  of  Divinity."  9.  "  A 
compendium  of  Logic."  10.  "  An  address  to  the  clergy 
of  Oxford."  11.  "  Synodical  conferences."  12.  "  De- 
terminations on  several  questions."      13.   "A  course  of 

i  Bio;.  Brit.— Ath.  Ox.  vol.  II.— Peck's  Desiderata,  vol.  II. 


BATE.  131 

Sermons  for  the  whole  year."     14»  "A  preface  to  the 
Bible."1 

BATE  (Jcuus),  an  English  divine  of  the  Hutchinsonian 
principles,  was  a  younger  son  of  the  Rev.  Richard  Bate, 
vicar  of  Chilham  and  rector  of  Warehorn,  who  died  in 
1736.  He  was  born  about  1711,  and  matriculated  at  St. 
John's  college,*  Cambridge,  where  he  too"k  his  degrees,  of 
B.  A.  1730,  and  M.  A.  1742.  He  was  an  intimate  friend 
of  the  celebrated  Hutchinson,  as  we  learn  from  Mr.  Spear- 
man's life  of  that  remarkable  author),  by  whose  recommen- 
dation he  obtained  from  Charles  duke  of  Somerset  a  pre* 
sentation  to  the  living  of  Sutton  in  Sussex,  near  his  seat  at 
Petworth.  Mr.  Bate  attended  Hutchinson  in  his  last  ill- 
ness (1737),  and  was  by  him  in  a  most  striking  manner  re- 
commended to  the  protection  of  an  intimate  friend,  "  with 
a  strict  charge  not  to  suffer  his  labours  to  become  useless 
by  neglect.'*  It  having  been  reported  that  Hutchinson  had 
recanted  the  publication  of  his  writings  to  Dr.  Mead  a 
little  before  his  death ;  that  circumstance  was  flatly  contra- 
dicted by  a  letter  from  Mr.  Bate,  dated  Arundel,  January 
20,  1759.  He  died  at  Arundel,  April  7,  1771.  His  evan- 
gelical principles  of  religion  shone  with  a  steady  lustre,  not 
only  in  his  writings,  but  in  his  life.  Disinterested,  and  dis- 
daining the  mean  arts  of  ambition,  he  was  contented  with 
the  small  preferment  he  had  in  the  church.  As  a  Christian 
and  a  friend,  he  was  humble  and  pious,  tender,  affectionate, 
and  faithful ;  as  a  writer,  warm,  strenuous,  and  undaunted, 
in  asserting  the  truth. 

His  publications  were,  1.  a  The  Examiner  examined, 
&c.  (against  Calcott)  with  some  observations  upon  the  He- 
brew Grammar,"  1739.  2.  "  An  essay  towards  explaining 
the  third  chapter  of  Genesis,  in  answer  to  Mr.  Warburton,'* 
1741,  8vo.  Warburton,  in  his  "  Divine  Legation,"  1740, 
preface,  accuses  "  one  Julius  Bate,"  in  conjunction  with 
€€  one  Romaine,"  of  betraying  private  conversation,  and 
writing  fictitious  letters.  3.  "  The  philosophical  principles 
of  Moses  asserted  and  defended  against  the  misrepresenta- 
tions of  Mr.  David  Jennings,"  1744,  8vo.  4.  "  Remarks 
upon  Mr.  Warburton's  remarks,  shewing  that  the  ancients 
knew  there  was  a  future  state,  and  that  the  Jews  were  not' 
Under  an  equal  Providence,"  1745,  8vo.  5.  "  The  faith 
of  Ate  ancient  Jews  in  the  law  of  Moses  and  the  evidence 

*  Tanner.— Biog.  Brit, 
E  2 


A£ 


s 


132  fr  A  T  E. 

of  the  types,  vindicated  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Stebbiug,*'  1747; 
fcvo.     6.   "  Proposals  for  printing  Hutchinson's  works,** 
J748.     7.  "  A  defence  of  Mr.  Hutchinson's  plan,"   1748. 
8.  "  An  Hebrew  Gramiriar,  formed  on  the  usage  of  words 
by  the  inspired  writers,"    1750,  8vo.     9.  "  The  use  and 
intent  of    Prophecy,    and   history  of  the   Fall  cleared," 
1750,    8vo,    occasioned    by  Middle  ton's   examination   of 
Sherlock.     10.  "A  defence  of  Mr.  Hutchinson's  tenets 
against  Bering  ton,"   1751.     11.  "The  scripture  meaning 
of  Elohim  and  Berith,"     1751.     12.  "  Micah  v.  2.  and 
Matthew  ii.  6.    reconciled,    with    some   remarks    on   Dr. 
Hunt's  Latin  writings."     1 3.  "  The  blessing  of  Judah  by 
Jacob  considered;    and  the   era  of  Daniel's  weeks  as- 
certained,  in   two   dissertations,"     1753,  8vo.     14.  ".An 
Inquiry  into  the  original  Similitudes,  &c.  in  the  Old  and 
New  Testament,"    &c.    po   date,    but  about    1754.     15. 
u  The  integrity  of  the  Hebrew  text,  and  many  passages  of 
Scripture  vindicated  from  the  objections  and  misconstrue* 
tions  of  Mr.  Kennicott,"  1755,  8vo.     16.  "A  reply  to  Dr. 
Sharp's  review  and  defence   of  his   dissertations  on  the 
tfcripture  meaning  of  Berith.    With  an  appendix  in  answer 
to  the  doctor's  discourse  on  Cherubim,  part  I."   1755,  and 
a  second  part  in  1756,  8vo.     17.  ",  Remarks  upon  Dr.  Ben- 
son's sermon  on  the  gospel  method  of  Justification,"  1758, 
8vo.     18.  "  Critica  Hebrsea,  or  a  Hebrew- English  Diction 
nary  without  points,"  1767,  4to,  his  greatest  effort  in  favour 
of  Hutchinsonian  divinity,  philosophy,  and  criticism.     Af- 
ter his  death  was  published,  "  A  new  and  literal  transla- 
tion from  the  original  Hebrew  of  the  pentateuch  of  Moses, 
and  of  the  historical  books' of  the  Old  Testament,  to  the  end, 
of  the  second  book  of  Kings,  with  notes  critical  and  expla-, 
Batory,"  1773,  4to.1 

BATE  (James),  elder  brother  of  the  preceding,  was 
born  at  Bocton  Malherb  in  Kent  in  1703,  and  after  being 
educated  at  the  king's  school  at  Canterbury,  was  admitted 
a  pensioner  of  Corpus  Christi  college,  Cambridge,  under 
the  tuition  of  Mr.  Denne,  July  4,  1720.  He  proceeded 
A.  B.  in  1723,  and  was  pre-elected  fellow  soon  after;  but 
an  offer  being  made  him,  in  the  mean  time,  of  a  fellowship 
in  St.  John's  college,  by  the  bishop  of  Ely,  he  chose  rathejr 
to  accept  of  that  than  to  wait  for  a  vacancy  in  the  other. 
He  commenced  A.  M.  in  1727,  became  moderator  of  the 
university  in  1730,  one  of  their  taxors  the  year  following, 

*  NichoU'i  Bowyer,  vol,  III.  3ro. 


BATE.  m 

fttid  after  distinguishing  himself  for  his  skill  in  the  Hebrew 
language,  was  recommended  to  the  right  honourable  Hora- 
tio Walpole,  whom  he  attended  as  chaplain  in  his  embassy 
to  Paris.  After  his  return  home  he  became  possessed  of 
the  rectory  of  St  Paul's,  Deptford,  June  23,  1731.  He 
died  in  1775,  He  published,  1.  "  An  address  to  his  pa- 
rishioners on  the  Rebellion  in  1745."  2.  "  Infidelity 
scourged,  or  Christianity  vindicated  against  Chubb,  &c.'* 
1746,  8vo.  3.  €(  An  essay  towards  a  rationale  of  the  lite- 
ral doctrine  of  Original  Sin,  &c."  occasioned  by  some  of 
Dr.  Middleton's  writings,  1752,  8vo.  4.  a  A  second  edi- 
tion of  the  Rationale,  &c."  1766>  in  the  preface  to  which 
he  laments  that  u  it  was  his  hard  fate,  in  his  younger 
years,  to  serve  one  of  our  ambassadors  as  his  chaplain  at  a 
foreign  court,"     He  published  also  a  few  occasional  ser- 


mons. 1 


BATECUMBE,  or  BADECOMBE  (William),  an  emi- 
nent mathematician,  is  supposed  by  Pits  to  have  flourished 
about  1420.  He  studied  at  Oxford,  where  he  applied 
hiitfself  to  natural  philosophy  in  general,  but  chiefly  to  the 
mathematics,  in  which  be  made  a  very  great  proficiency, 
as  is  evident  by  his  writings  in  that  science,  which  intro-' 
duced  him  to  the  acquaintance  and  intimacy  of  the  great- 
est men  of  his  time.  It  is  not  known  when  he  died.  He 
:wrote,  1.  "  De  Sphaeree  toncavae  fabrica  et  usu ;"  which 
Bale  saw  in  the  library  of  Dr.  Robert  Record e,  a  learned 
physician.  2.  "  De  Sphaera  solida."  3.  "  De  operatione 
Astrolabii."     4.  "  Conclusiones  Sophiae."  * 

BATEMAN  (William),  bishop  of  Norwich  in  the  four- 
teenth century,  and  founder  of  Trinity  hall  in  Cambridge, 
was  born  at  Norwich,  the  son  of  a  citizen  of  good  repute  in 
that  place.  He  was,  from  his  tenderest  years,  of  a  docile 
and  ingenuous  disposition,  and  having  made  good  pro- 
ficiency in  learning,  he  was  sent  to  the  university  of  Cam- 
bridge. There  he  particularly  studied  the  civil  law,  in 
which  he  took  the  degree  of  doctor  before  he  was  thirty 
years  of  age,  a  thing  then  uncommon.  On  the  8th  of  De- 
cember 1 328,  he  was  collated  to  the  archdeaconry  of  Nor- 
wich* Soon  after  this,  he  went  and  studied  at  Rome,  for 
his  further  improvement ;  and  so  distinguished  himself  by 
his  knowledge  and  exemplary  behaviour,  that  he  was  pro- 
moted by  the  pope  to  the  place  of  auditor  of  his  palace* 

i  Nichols's  Bowyer,  vol.  III.  8fo.— Ma»terVs  Hist,  of  C.  C.  C'  C. 
'  B»?.  Briti— Tanner  Bib', 


134  B  A  T  E  M  A  N. 

He  was  likewise  advanced  by  him  to  the  deanery  of  Lin-, 
coin,  and  twice  sent  by  him  as  his  nuncio,  to  endeavour  to 
procure  a  peace  between  Edward  III.  king  of  England, 
and  the  king  of  France.  Upon  the  death  of  Anthony  de 
Beck,  bishop  of  Norwich,  the  pope  conferred  that  bishopric 
upon  Bateman,  on  the  23d  of  January  1343,  after  which 
be  returned  into  his  native  country,  and  lived  in  a  generous 
and  hospitable  manner.  Of  pope  Clement  VI.  he  obtained 
for  himself  and  successors,  the  first  fruits  of  all  vacant  liv- 
ings within  his  diocese;  which  occasioned  frequent  dis- 
putes between  himself  and  his  clergy.  In  1347,  he  found- 
ed Trinity-hall  in  Cambridge,  for  the  study  of  the  civil  and 
canon  laws,  by  purchasing  certain  tenements  from  the 
monks  of  Ely,  for  which  he  gave  some  rectories  in  ex- 
change, and  Converted  the  premises  into  a  hall,  dedicated 
to  the  holy  Trinity.  He  endowed  it  with  the  rectories  of 
Briston,  Kymberley,  Brimmingham,  Woodalling,  Cowl- 
ing, and  Stalling,  in  the  diocese  of  Norwich :  aftd  de- 
signed that  it  should  consist  of  a  master,  twenty  fellows, 
and  three  scholars;  to  study  the  canon  and  civil  law,  with 
an  allowance  for  one  divine.  But  being  prevented  by 
"death,  he  left  provision  only  for  a  master,  three  fellows,, 
and  two  scholars.  However,  by  the  munificence  of  sub- 
sequent benefactors,  it  now  maintains  a  master, -twelve 
fellows,  and  fourteen  scholars.  Bishop  Bateman,  from  bis 
abilities  and  address,  was  often  employed  by  the  king  and 
parliament  in  affairs  of  the  highest  importance ;  and  par- 
ticularly was  at  the  head  of  several  embassies,  on  purpose 
to  determine  the  differences  between  the  crowns  of  Eng- 
land and  France.  In  1354,  he  was,  by  order  of  parliament, 
dispatched  to  the  court  of  Rome,  with  Henry  duke  of  Lan- 
caster, and  others,  to  treat  (in  the  pope's  presence)  of  a 
peace,  then  in  agitation  between  the  two  crowns  above 
mentioned.  This  journey  proved  fatal  to  him  ;  for  he  died 
at  Avignon,  where  the  pope  then  resided,  on  the  6th  of 
January  1354-5,  and  was  buried  with  great  solemnity,  in 
the  cathedral  church  of  that  city.  With  regard  to  his  per- 
son, we  are  told  that  he  was  of  an  agreeable  countenance ; 
and  tall,  handsome,  and  well  made.  He  was,  likewise,  a 
man  of  strict  justice  and  piety,  punctual  in  the  discharge 
of  his  duty,  and  of  a  friendly  and  compassionate  disposi- 
tion. But  he  was  a  stout  defender  of  his  rights,  and  would 
not  suffer  himself  to  be  injured,  or  imposed  upon,  by  any 
one,  of  which  we  have  the  following  instance  upon  record, 


B  AT  E  M  A  N.  135 

which  perhaps  does  not  more  display  his  resolution  than  the 
abject  state  into  which  the  king  and  his  nobles  were  re- 
duced by  the  usurped  powers  of  the  church  of  Rome : 
Robert  lord  Morley  having  killed  some  deer  in  his  parks, 
and  misused  his  servants,  he  made  him  do  public  penance 
for  the  same,  by  walking  uncovered  and  barefoot,  with  a 
wax  taper  of  six  pounds  in  his  hands,  through  the  city  of 
Norwich  to  the  cathedral,  and  then  asking  his  pardon* 
And  all  this  was  done  notwithstanding  an  express  order  of 
the  king  to  the  contrary,  and  though  his  majesty  had  seized 
the  bishop's  revenues  for  his  obstinacy.  But  the  king 
was  soon  after  reconciled  to  him.  It  remains  to  be  men- 
tioned that  bishop  Bateman  was  executor  to  Edmund  Gon- 
ville,  the  founder  of  the  college  so  called,  which  gave  rise 
to  the  report  by  Godwin  and  others  that  he  had  founded 
that  college  or  hall,  which  is  evidently  a  mistake. ' 

BATES  (William),  an  eminent  nonconformist  divine  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  was  born  in  November  1625, 
and  after  a  suitable  school  education,  was  sent  to  Cam- 
bridge, where  he  was  admitted  of  Emanuel  college,  from 
which  he  removed  to  King's,  in  1644.  He  commenced 
bachelor  of  arts  in  1647,  and  applying  himself  to  the  study 
of  divinity,  became  a  distinguished  preacher  among  the 
Presbyterians.  He  was  afterwards  appointed  vicar  of 
St.  Dunstan's  in  the  West,  London  ;  and  joined  with  seve- 
ral other  divines  in  preaching  a  morning  exercise  at  Crip- 
plegate  church.  At  this  exercise  Dr.  Tillotson  preached, 
in  September  1661,  the  first  sermon  which  was  ever 
printed  by  him.  Upon  the  restoration  of  Charles  II. 
Mr.  Bates  was  made  one  of  his  majesty's  chaplains  ;  and, 
in  the  November  following,  was  admitted  to  the  degree  of 
doctor  in  divinity  in  the  university  of  Cambridge,  by  royal 
mandate.  The  king's  letter  to  this  purpose  was  dated  on 
the  9th  of  that  month.  About  the  same  time,  he  was 
offered  the  deanery  of  Lichfield  and  Coventry,  which  he 
refused  *  and  it  is  said  that  he  might  afterwards  have  been 
raised  to  #ny  bishopric  in  the  kingdom,  if  he  would  have 
conformed  to  the  established  church.  Dr.  Bates  was  one 
of  the  commissioners  at  the  Savoy  conference  in  1660,  for 
reviewing  the  public  liturgy^  and  was  concerned  in  drawing 

*  Biog.  Brit. — Peck's  Desiderata,  vol.  if.  and  Memoirs  of  Cromwell,  Collec- 
tions, p,  1.— VV ha r ton's  Anglia  Sacra. 


136  BATE  S. 

tip  the  exceptions  against  the  Common  Prayer.     He  was, 
likewise,  chosen  on  the  part  of  the  Presbyterian  ministers, 
together  with  Dr.  Jacomb  and  Mr.  Baxter,  to  manage  the 
dispute  with  Dr.  Pearson,    afterwards  bishop  of  Chester, 
Dr.  Gunning,  afterwards  bishop  of  Ely,  and  Dr.  Sparrow, 
afterwards  bishop  of  Ely.     In  1665,  be  took  the  oath  re- 
quired of  the  nonconformists  by  the  act  commonly  called 
the  Five  Mile  Act,  and  which  had  passed  in  the  parliament 
held  that  year  at  Oxford,  on  account  of  the  plague  being 
in  London*.      When,    about  January  1667-8,   a  treaty- 
was  proposed  by  sic  .Orlando  Bridgman,  lord  keeper  of 
the  great  seal,  and  countenanced   by  the  lord  chief  baron 
Hale,  for  a  comprehension  of  such  of  the  dissenters  as 
could  be  brought  into  the  communion  of  the  church,  and 
for  a  toleration  of  the  rest,  Dr.  Bates  was  one  of  the  divines 
who,  on  the  Presbyterian  side,  were  engaged  in  drawing 
up  a  scheme  of  the  alterations  and  concessions  desired  by 
that  party.     He  was  concerned,  likewise,  in  another  fruit- 
less attempt  of  the  same  kind,  which  was  made  in  1674. 
His  good  character  recommended  him  to  the  esteem  and 
acquaintance  of  lord  keeper  Bridgman,  lord*  chancellor 
Finch,  and  his  son,  the  earl  of  Nottingham.     Dr.  Tillot- 
soi>  had  such  an  opinion  of  his  learning  and  temper,  that  it 
became  the  ground  of  a  friendship  between  them,  which 
continued  to  the  death  of  that  excellent  prelate,  and  Dr. 
Bates,  with  great  liberality,  used  his  interest  with  the  arch* 
bishop,  in  procuring  a  pardon  for  Nathaniel  lord  Crewe, 
bishop  of  Durham,  who,  for  his  conduct  in  the  ecclesias- 
tical commission,  had  been  excepted  out.  of  the  act  of  in* 

*  When  ibe  parliament  tat  at  Ox-  place  which  pent  burgesses  to  parlia- 

ford,    during  the  plague  in  London,  merit.     The  ministers  finding  the  pres- 

they  passed  an  act  to  oblige  the  non-  sure  of  the  act  very  great,  studied  how 

conformists  to  take  an  oath,  "  That  to  take  the  oath  lawfully.     Dr.  Bates 

it  was  not  lawful,  upon  any  pretence  consulted   the  lord  keeper  Bridgman, 

whatsoever,  to  take  arms  against  the  who  promised  to  be  present  at  the  next 

king;    and    that    they   abhorred   the  sessions,  and  to  declare  from  the  bench, 

treacherous  position  of  taking  arms  by  that  by   "endeavour  to  change   tho 

his    authority  against  his  person,  or  government    in   church,  was    meant 

against  those  that  are  commissioned  •  only  unlawful  endeavour."    This  sa- 

by  him,  in  pursuance  of  such  commis-  ti*fied  Dr.  Bates,  who  upon  this  took 

sion j  and  that  they  would  not  at  any  the  oath  with  several  others.    He  wrote 

time  endeavour  any  alteration  in  the  a  letter  hereupon  to  Mr.  Baxter ;  but 

government   of   church    and  state."  the  latter  tells  us,  that  all  the  argu- 

Those  who  refused  to  take  this  oath  menu  contained  therein  seemed  to  him 

were    to  be  restrained  from   coming  not  sufficient  to  enervate  the  objection* 

(except  upon  the  road)  within  five  miles  against  taking  the  oath, 

of  any     ity  or  .corporation,  or  any 


BATES.  137 

* 

demnity,  which  passed  in  1690.    When  the  dissenters  pre* 
sented  their  address  to  king  William  and  queen  Mary,  on 
their  accession  to  the  throne,  the  two  speeches  to  their 
majesties  were  delivered  by  Dr.  Bates,  who  was  much  re- 
spected by  that  monarch ;  and  queen  Mary  often  enter- 
tained herself  in  her  closet  with  his  writings.     His  resi* 
dence,  during  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  was  at  Hackney, 
where  he  preached  to  a  respectable  society  of  Protestant 
dissenters,  in  an  ancient  irregular  edifice  in  Mare-street, 
which  was  pulled  down  in  1773.     He  was  also  one  of  the 
Tuesday  lecturers  at  Salter's  hall.     He  died  at  Hackney, 
July  14,  1699,  in  the  74th  year  of  his  age.  After  his  death, 
his  works,  which  had  been  separately  printed,  were  col- 
lected into  one  volume  fol.  besides  which  a  posthumous 
piece  of  his  appeared  in  8vo,  containing  some  "  Sermons 
on  the  everlasting  rest  of  the  Saints.1'     He  wrote,  likewise, 
in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Howe,  a  prefatory  epistle  to  Mr. 
Chaffy' s  treatise  of  the  Sabbath,  on  its  being  reprinted; 
and  another  before  lord  Stair's  vindication  of  the  Divine 
Attributes.     Dr.  Bates  is  universally  understood  to  have 
been  the  politest  writer  among  the  nonconformists  of  the 
seventeenth  century.     It  is  reported,  that  when  his  library 
came  to  be  disposed  of,  it  was  found  to  contain  a  great 
'number  of  romances ;  but,  adds  his  biographer,  it  should 
be  remembered  that  the  romances  of  that  period,  though 
absurd  in  several  respects,  bed  a  tendency  to  invigorate 
the  imagination,  and  abounded  in  heroic  sentiments  of  ho- 
nour  and  virtue.     Dr.  Bates's  works,  however  esteemed 
about  a  century  ago,  are  not  among  those  which  have  been 
of  late  years  revived  among  the  dissenters  \xy  republication. 
Besides  those   included  in  the  folio  edition,  he  was  the 
editor  of  a  valuable  collection  of  lives  of  eminent  persons, 
princes,  and  men  of  rank,  churchmen,  and  men  of  learning, 
amounting  to  thirty-two,  all  in.  Latin,  under  the  title  of 
"  Vitas  selectoruoi  aliquot  virorum  qui  doctrini,  dignitate, 
aut  pietyte  inclaruere,"  Lond.  4to,  1681.     Six  of  them  are 
anonymous,  and  the  rest  are  taken  from  very  scarce  tracts. 
The  life  of  B.  Gilpin  by  Carleton,  written  in  English,  was 
translated  into  Latin  by  Dr.  Bates ;  and  another  written  in 
French,  translated  by  another  person,  at  his  request.    Dr. 
Bates's  name  is  not  in  the  title  page,  but  it  is  at  the  end  of 
the  dedication  to  the  celebrated  lord  Russel,  and  the  work 
is  generally  quoted  by  the  title  of  "  Batesii  Vitse  select©/' 


138  BATE  S. 

It  is  now,  although  scarce,  much  less  valued  than  such  3 
collection  deserves. l 

BATHE  (Henry  de),  a  learned  knight,  and  eminent 
justiciary  of  the  thirteenth  century,  was  a  younger  brother 
of  an  ancient  family  of  that  name,  and  born,  most  probably, 
at  the  ancient  seat  of  the  family,  called  Bathe  house,  in  the 
county  of  Devon.  Being  a  younger  brother,  he  was  brought 
up  to  the  profession  of  the  law,  in  the  knowledge  of  which 
be  so  distinguished  himself,  that  he  was  advanced  by  king 
Henry  III.  in  1238,  to  be  one  of  the  justices  of  the  com- 
mon pleas ;  and  in  1240,  was  constituted  one  of  the  jus- 
tices itinerant  (as  they  were  then  called),  for  the  county  of 
Hertford ;  and  in  1 248  he  was  appointed  the  same  for  Essex 
and  Surrey;  in  1249  for  Kent,  Berks,  Southampton,  and 
Middlesex;  and  in  1250  for  Lincolnshire;  at  which  time 
he  bad  allowed  him  out  of  the  exchequer,  by  a  peculiar 
favour,  an  hundred  pounds  a  year  for  his  sustentation  in 
the  discharge  of  his  office.  But  the  year  following  he  lost 
the  king's  favour,  owing  to  the  following  crimes  being  laid 
to  his  charge,  viz.  That  he  had  not  exercised  his  office  up- 
rightly, but  to  his  own  private  gain,  having  perverted  jus«» 
tice  through  bribes,  in  a  suit  betwixt  him  and  one  Everard 
Trumpington;  and  this  charge  was  chiefly  supported 
against  him  by  one  Philip  de  Arcis,  knt.  who  also  added 
treason  to  that  of  infidelity  in  his  office.  The  accused  was 
attached  in  the  king's  court ;  but  one  Mansel,  who  was 
now  become  a  great  favourite  at  court,  offered  bail  for  his 
appearance  :  king  Henry  refused  this,  the  case,  as  he  al- 
ledged,  not  being  bailable,  but  one  of  high-treason.  Fulk 
Basset,  however,  then  bishop  of  London,  and  a  great  many 
of  De  Bathe's  friends  interceding,  the  king  at  last  gave  orders 
that  he  should  be  bailed,  twenty -four  knights  becoming 
sureties  for  his  appearing  and  standing  to  the  judgment  of 
the  court  But  De  Bathe  seems  to  have  been  conscious  of 
his  own  demerits,  or  the  prejudices  of  his  judges  against 
him ;  for  he  was  no  sooner  set  at  liberty,  than  he  wrote  to 
all  his  relations  either  by  blood  or  marriage,  desiring  that 
they  would  apply  to  the  king  in  his  favour,  at  first  by  fair 
speeches  and  presents,  and  if  these  did  not  prevail,  they 
should  appear  in  a  more  warlike  manner,  which  they  una-» 

1  Biog.  Brit.— Life  prefixed  to  bis  works.— Palmer's  Nonconformists'  Me- 
morial, vol.  1. 


BATHE.  *39 

nimously  promised  to  do,  upon  the  encouragement  given 
them  by  a  bold  knight,  one  Nicholas  de  Sancjford.  But  the 
king,  confiding  in  his  own  power  and  the  interest  of  De 
Bathe's  accusers,  appeared  inexorable,  and  rejected  all 
presents  from  the  friends  of  the  accused.  De  Bathe,  con- 
vinced that,  if  Henry  persisted  in  his  resolution,  he  him- 
self must  perish,  had  recourse  to  the  bishop  of  London, 
and  other  special  friends,  and  with  a  great  posse  of  these 
went  to  Richard  earl  of  Cornwall  (afterwards  king  of  the 
Romans),  whom  by  prayer  and  promises  he  won  over  to  his 
interest.  The  king  remaining  inflexible,  about  the  end  of 
February,  De  Bathe  was  obliged  to  appear  to  answer  what 
should  be  laid  to  his  charge.  This  he  accordingly  did,  but 
strongly  defended  by  a  great  retinue  of  sinned  knights, 
gentlemen,  and  others,  viz.  his  own  and  his  wife's  friends 
and  relations,  among  whom  was  the  family  of  the  Bassets 
and  the  Sandfords.  The  assembly  was  now  divided  be- 
tween those  who  depended  upon  the  king  for  their  prefer-, 
ments,  and  those  who  (though  a  great  majority)  were  so 
exasperated  at  the  measures  of  the  court,  that  they  were 
resolved  not  to  find  De  Bathe  guilty.  It  was  not  long  be- 
fore the  king  perceived  this,  and  proclaimed  that  whoso- 
ever had  any  action  or  complaint  against  Henry  de  Bathe, 
should  come  in  and  should  be  heard.  A  new  charge  was 
now  brought  against  De  Bathe :  he  was  impeached  (not 
only  on  the  former  articles,  but  particularly)  for  alienating 
the  affections  of  the  barons  from  his  majesty,  and  creating 
such  a  ferment  all  over  the  kingdom,  that  a  general  sedi- 
tion was  on  the  point  of  breaking  out;  and  Bathe's  brother- 
justiciary  declared  to  the  assembly,  that  he  knew  the  ac- 
cused to  have  dismissed  without  any  censure,  for  the  sake 
of  lucre,  a  convicted  criminal.  Many  other  complaints 
were  urged  against  him,  but  they  seem  to  have  been  disre- 
garded by  all,  except  the  king  and  his  party,  who  was  so 
much  exasperated  to  see  De  Bathe  likely  to  be  acquitted, 
that  he  mounted  his  throne,  and  with  his  own  mouth  made 
proclamation,  That  whosoever  should  kill  Henry  de  Bathe, 
should  have  the  royal  pardon  for  him  and  his  heirs ;  after 
which  speech  he  went  out  of  the  room  in  a  great  passion. 
Many  of  the  royal  party,  upon  this  savage  intimation,  were 
for  dispatching  De  Bathe  in  court :  but  his  friend  Mansel, 
one  of  the  king's  counsel,  and  Fulk  Basset,  bishop  of  Lon- 
don, interposed  so  effectually,  that  he  was  saved ;  and 
afterwards/  by  the    powerful  mediation   of  his  friends 


140  BATHE. 

(among  whom  was  the  earl  of  Cornwall,  kthe  king's  brother, 
and  the  bishop  of  London),  and  the  application  of  a  sum  of 
money,  viz.  2,000  marks  to  the  king,  he  obtained  not  only 
a  pardon,  but  all  his  former  places  and  favour  with  the  king, 
who  re-established  him  in  the  same  seat  of  judicature  as 
he  was  in  before,  and  rather  advanced  him  higher ;  for  he 
was  made  chief-justice  of  the  king's  bench,  in  which 
honourable  post  he  continued  till  the  time  of  his  death,  as 
Dugdale  informs  us  :  for  in  1260,  we  find  that  he  was  one 
of  the  justices  itinerant  for  the  counties  of  Huntingdon, 
Norfolk,  Suffolk,  and  Cambridge,  which  was  the  ypar  be- 
fore he  died.  Browne  Willis  in  hisCathedrals  (vol,  ii.  p.410.) 
mentions  that  he  was  buried  in  Christ  church,  Oxford,  but 
the  editor  of  Wood's  colleges  and  balls,  asks  how  any  one 
can  conceive  the  effigy  of  a  man  in  armour  to  have  been 
intended  for  a  justiciary  of  England?  This,  however,  is 
not  decisive  against  the  effigies  on  this  tomb  being  intended 
for  Henry  de  Bathe,  because  from  the  king's  threat  above, 
which  might  be  executed  by  any  assassin,  it  is  very  pro- 
bable that  he  might  have  been  obliged  to  wear  armdurf . 
even  after  the  king  was  reconciled  to  him.* 
.  BATHE  (William),  an  Irish  Je^feit,  was  born  in  Dublin 
ip  1564.  It  is  said  that  he  was  of  a  sullen,  saturnine  tem- 
per, and  disturbed  in  his  mind,  because  his  family  was  re* 
duced  from  its  ancient  splendour.  His  parents,  who  were 
Protestants,  having  a  greater  regard  to  learning  than  reli- 
gion, placed  him  under  the  tuition  of  an  eminent  popish 
school -master,  who  fitted  him  for  that  station  of  life  which 
he  afterwards  embraced.  He  then  removed  to  Oxford, 
where  he  studied  several  years  with  indefatigable  industry  ; 
but  the  inquisitive  Anthony  Wood  could  not  discover  in 
what  college  or  hall  he  sojourned,  or  whether  he  took  any 
university  degree*  The  same  writer  alledges,  that  grow- 
ing weary  of  the  heresy  professed  in  England  (as  he  usually 
called  the  Protestant  faith),  he  quitted  the  nation  and  his. 
religion  together,  and  in  1596  was  initiated  among  the 
Jesuits,  being  then  between  thirty  and  forty  years  of  age  ; 
though  one  of  his  own  order  says  he  was  then  but  twenty- 
live,  which  certainly  is  erroneous.  Having  spent  some 
time  among  the  Jesuits  in  Flanders,  he  travelled,  into  Italy, 
and  completed  his  studies  at  Padua  *,  from  whence  he 
passed  into  Spain,  being  appointed  to  govern  -the  Irish 

a 

*  Bio$.  Brit.— -Prince's  Worthies  of  Ocron,     . 


BATHE.  J4i 

seminary  at  Salamanca.  He  is  said  to  have  had  a  most 
ardent  zeal  for  making  converts)  and  was  much  esteemed 
among  the  people  of  his  persuasion. for  his  extraordinary 
virtues  and  good  qualities)  though  he  was  of  a  temper  not 
very  sociable*  At  length,  taking  a  journey  to  Madrid  to 
transact  some  business  of  his  order,  he  died  on  the  17th  of 
June  1614)  and  was  buried  in  the  Jesuits'  convent  of  that 
city,  bearing  among  his  brethren  a  reputation  for  learning; 
particularly  on  account  of  a  work  which  he  published  to 
facilitate  the  acquirement  of  any  language,  entitled  "  Ja- 
nua  Linguarum,  seu  modus  maxim e  accommodates,  quo 
patent  aditus  ad  omnes  linguas  intelligendas,"  Salatriancar 
1611.  Besides  one  or  two  tracts  on  confessions  and 
penance,  he  wrote,  when  a  youth  at  Oxford,  "  An  intro* 
auction  to  the  art  of  Music,"  London,  1584,  4to.  In  this 
work,  which  is  dedicated  to  his  uncle  Gerald  Fitzgerald 
earl  of  Kildare,  the  author  displays  a  good  opinion  of  his 
own  performance,  but  thought  proper,  some  years  after  its 
first  publication,  to  write  it  over  again  in  such  a  manner, 
as  scarcely  to  retain  a  single  paragraph  of  the  former  edi- 
tion. This  latter  edition  was  printed  by  Thomas  Este, 
without  a  date,  with  the  title  of  "A  briefe  introduction  to 
the  skill  of  Song ;  concerning  the  practice ;  set  forth  by 
William  Bathe,  gent."  From  sir  John  Hawkins's  account 
of  both  these  productions,  and  his  extracts  from  them,  it 
does  not  appear  that  they  have  any  grefct  merit  The 
style,  in  particular,  is  very  perplexed  and  disagreeable. ' 

BATHEL1ER  (James  le)  sieur  d'Aviron,  advocate  of 
the  presidial  court  of  Evreux,  was  celebrated  in  the  six-  < 
teenth  century  for  his  knowledge  of  law.  Henry  III.  king 
of  France,  having,  in  1586,  appointed  commissioners  to 
investigate  and  adjust  some  disputes  respecting  certain 
parts  of  the  Norman  law,  the  report  they  gave  in,  and  the 
proceedings  which  followed,  suggested  to  le  Bathelier  that 
able  work  on  the  Norman  law,  by  which  principally  he  is 
now  known.  Groulard,  first  president  of  the  parliament  of 
Normandy,  to  whom  the  manuscript  was  submitted,  was 
so  delighted  with  it,  that  he  caused  the  whole  to  be  printed, 
but  without  the  name  of  the  author,  and  when  some  insi- 
nuated that  this  might  be  interpreted  to  his  disadvantage, 
as  au  attempt  to  pass  for  the  author,  Groulard  answered, 

»  Bioy.  Brit— Ath,  Ox.  vol.  I.— Dodd's  Church   History,  vol,  II.  where  be 
if  called  Bat*s.     ^ 


14?  BATHELIER. 

that  the  book  was  so  excellent,  it  must  always  appear  the 
work  of  James  le  Bathelier,  and  never  could  be  mistaken 
under  any  other  name.  These  "  Commentaries  on  the  Nor* 
man  law"  were  reprinted  with  those  of  Berault  and  Gode* 
froi,  at  Rouen,  1684,  2  vols.  fol.  We  have  no  account  of 
the  time  of  Bathelier' s  death. ' 

BATHURST  (Allen)/  earl,  an  English  nobleman  of 
distinguished  abilities,  was  son  of  sir  Benjamin  Bathurst  of 
Pauler's  Perry,  Northamptonshire,  and  born  in  St*  James's 
square,  Westminster,  Nov.  16,  1684.  His  mother  wai 
Frances,  daughter  of  sir  Allen  Apsley,  in  Sussex,:  knt. 
After  a  grammatical  education,  he  was  entered,  at  the  age 
of  fifteen,  in  Trinity  college,  Oxford ;  of  which  his  uncle, 
dean  Bathurst,  was  president.  In  1705,  when  just  of  age, 
he  was  chosen  for  Cirencester  in  Gloucestershire,  which 
borough  he  represented  for  two  parliaments.  He  acted, 
in  the  great,  opposition  to  the  duke  of  Marlborough  and  the 
Whigs,  under  Mr.  Harley  and  Mr.  St.  John  ;  and,  in  Dec* 
1711,  at  that  memorable  period,  in  which  the  administra- 
tion, to  obtain  a  majority  in  the  upper  house,  introduced 
twelve  new  lords  in  one  day,  was  made  a  peer.  On  the 
accession  of  George  I.  when  his  political  friends  were  in 
disgrace,  and  some  of  them  exposed  to  persecution,  he  con- 
tinued firm  in  his  attachment  to  them  :  he  united,  particu- 
larly, in  the  protests  against  the  acts  of  the  attainder  against 
lord  Bolingbroke  and  the  duke  of  Ormond.  We  have  no 
speech  of  his  recorded,  till  on  Feb.  21,  1718  ;  from  which 
period,  for  the  space  of  twenty-five  years,  we  find 
that  he  took  an  active  and  distinguished  part  in  every  im- 
portant matter  which  came  before  the  upper  house ;  and 
that  he  was  one  of  the  most  eminent  opposers  of  the  mea- 
sures of  the  court,  and  particularly  of  sir  Robert  Wal- 
pole's  administration.  For  an  account  of  these,  however,. 
we  refer  to  history,  and  especially  to  the  history  and  pro* 
ceedings  of  the  house  of  lords. 

The  principal  circumstances  of  his  private  life  are  as 
follow :  In  1704,  he  married  Catherine,  daughter  of  sir 
Peter  Apsley,  son  and  heir  of  sir  Allen  aforesaid ;  by  whom: 
he  had  four  sons  and  five  daughters.  In  1742,  he  was 
made  one  of  the  privy  council.  In  1757,  upon  a.  change 
in  the  ministry,  he  was  constituted  treasurer  to  the  present 
king,  then  prince  of  Wales,  and  continued  in  that  office 

*MoierL— Diet  Hist,  where  the  life  if  twice  repeated,  roL  II,  p.  89,  and  303. 


B  A  t  H  U  R  S  T.  US 

till  the  death  of  George  II.  At  his  majesty's  accession,  in 
1760,  he  was  constituted  privy  counsellor ;  but,  on  account 
of  his  age,  declined  all  employments :  he  had,  however, 
a  pension  of  2000/.  per  annum.  "  I  have  attended  parlia- 
ment," says  he  to  Swift,  "  many  years j  and  have  never 
found  that  I  could  do  any  good ;  I  have,  therefore,  deter- 
mined to  look  to  my  own  affairs  a  little  :"  and  it  has  been 
said,  we  believe  justly,  that  no  person  of  rank  ever  knew 
better  how  to  unite  otium  cum  dignitate.  To  uncommon 
abilities  he  added  many  virtues,  integrity,  humanity,  ge- 
nerosity :  and  to  these  virtues,  good  breeding,  politeness, 
and  elegance.  His  wit,  taste,  and  learning  connected  him 
with  all  persons  eminent  in  this  way,  with  Pope,  Swift, 
Addison,  &c. ;  and  from  the  few  letters  of  his  which  are 
published  among  Swift's,  his  correspondence  must  have 
been  a  real  pleasure  to  those  by  whom  it  was  enjoyed.  He 
preserved,  to  the  close  of  his  life,  his  natural  cheerfulness 
and  vivacity :  he  delighted  in  rural  amusements,  and  en- 
joyed with  philosophic  calmness  the  shade  of  the  lofty  trees 
himself  had  planted.  Till  within  a  month  of  his  death,  he 
constantly  rode  out  on  horseback  two  hours  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  drank  his  bottle  of  wine  after  dinner.  He  used 
jocosely  to  declare,  that  he  never  could  think  of  adopting 
Dr.  Cadogan's  regimen,  as  Dr.  Cheyne  had  assured  him 
fifty  years  before,  that  he  would  not  live  seven  years  longer, 
unless  he  abridged  himself  of  his  wine. 

In  1772,  he  was  advanced  to  the  dignity  of  earl  Bathurst. 
He  lived  to  see  his  eldest  surviving  son,  the  second  earl 
Bathurst  (who  died  in  1794)  several  years  chancellor  of 
England,  and  promoted  to  the  peerage  by  the  title  of  baron 
Apsley.  He  died,  after  a  few  days  illness,  at  his  seat  near 
Cirencester,  Sept.  16,  1775,  in  his  ninety- first  year. l 

BATHURST  (Ralph),  a  distinguished  wit,  and  Latin 
poet,  was  descended  of  an  ancient  family,  and  was  born  at 
Howthorpe,  a  small  hamlet  in  Northamptonshire,  in  the  pa- 
I  rish  of  Thedingworth,  near  Market-Harborough  in  Leices- 

tershire, in  1620.  He  received  the  first  part  of  his  edu- 
cation at  the  free-school  in  Coventry,  where  his  father 
seems  to  have  resided  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life.  His 
mother  was  Elizabeth  Villiers,  daughter  and  coheir  of  Ed- 
ward Villiers,  esq.  of  the  same  place.  They  had  issue 
thirteen  sons,  and  four  daughters.     Six  of  the  sons  lost 

>  Biof.  Brit. 


14*  B  A  T  H  U  R  S  T. 

their  lives  in  the  service  of  king  Charles  L  during  the  gtand 
rebellion :  the  rest,  besides  one  who  died  young,  were 
Ralph  (of  whom  we  now  treat),  Villiers,  Edward,  Moses, 
Henry,  and  Benjamin,  father  of  the  late  earl  Bathurst,  the 
subject  of  the  preceding  article.  At  Coventry  school  our 
author  made  so  quick  a  progress  in  the  classics,  that  at  the 
age  of  fourteen  he  was  sent  to  Oxford,  and  entered  Octo- 
ber 10,  1634,  in  Gloucester  hall,  now  Worcester  college; 
but  was  removed  in  a  few  days  to  Trinity  college,  and  pro- 
bably placed  under  the  immediate  tuition  of  his  grand- 
father Dr.  Kettel,  then  president,  in  whose  lodging  he 
resided  (still  known  by  the  name  of  Kettel-hall),  and  at 
whose  table  he  had  his  diet,  for  two  years.  He  was  elected 
scholar  of  the  house,  June  5,  1 637,  and  having  taken  the 
degree  of  A.  B.  January  27th  following,  he  was  appointed 
fellow  June  4, 1640.  He  commenced  A.  M.  April  17, 164 l„ 
and  on  March  2,  1644,  conformably  to  the  statutes  of  his 
college,  he  was  ordained  priest  by  Robert  Skinner,  bishop 
of  Oxford,  and  read  some  theological  lectures  in  the  col- 
lege hall  in  1649.  These,  which  he  called  "  Diatribuj 
theological,  philosophies,  et  philologies,"  are  said  to  dis- 
cover a  spirit  of  theological  research,  and  an  extensive 
knowledge  of  the  writings  of  the  most  learned  divines.  He 
likewise  kept  bis  exercise  for  the  degree  of  B.  D.  but  did 
not  take  it.  The  confusion  of  the  times  promising  little 
Support  or  encouragement  to  the  ministerial  function,  like 
his  friend,  the  famous  Dr.  Willis,  he  applied  himself  to 
the  study  of  physic,  and  accumulated  the  degrees  in  that 
faculty,  June  21,  1654.  Before  this  time  he  had  suffi- 
ciently recommended  himself  in  his  new  profession,  and 
had  not  been  long  engaged  in  it,  when  he  was  employed 
a?  physician  to  the  sick  and  wounded  of  the  navy,  which 
office  be  executed  with  equal  diligence  and  dexterity,  to 
the  full  satisfaction  of  the  sea-commanders,  and  the  com* 
missioners  of  the  admiralty.  We  find  him  soon  after  set- 
tled at  Oxford,  and  practising  physic  in  concert  with  his 
friend  Dr.  Willis,  with  whom  he  regularly  attended  Abing- 
don market  every  Monday.  He  likewise  cultivated  every 
branch  of  philosophical  knowledge  :  he  attended  the  lec- 
tures of  Peter  Sthad,  a  chymist  and  rosicrucian,  who  had 
been  invited  to  Oxford  by  Mr.  R.  Boyle,  and  was  after- 
wards operator  to  the  royal  society  about  1662.  About  the 
same  time  he  had  also  a  share  in  the  foundation  of  that  so- 
ciety ;  and  when  it  was  established,  he  was  elected  fellow, 


BATHUR  ST.  144 

and  admitted  August  19,  1663.  While  this  society  was  at 
Gresham  college  in  London,  a  branch  of  it  was  continued 
at  Oxford,  and  the  original  society  books  of  this  Oxford 
department  are  still  preserved  there  in  the  Ashmolean  Mu- 
seum, where  their  assemblies  were  held.  Their  latter  Ox- 
ford meetings  were  subject  to  regulations  made  among 
themselves ;  according  to  which  Dr.  Bathurst  was  elected 
president  April  23,  1688,  having  been  before  nominated 
one  of  the  members  for  drawing  up  articles,  February 
29,  1 683-4.  Nor  was  he  less  admired  as  a  classical  scholar ; 
at  the  university  acts,  in  the  collections  of  Oxford  verses, 
and  on  every  public  occasion,  when  the  ingenious  were 
invited  to  a  rival  display  of  their  abilities,  he  appears  to 
have  been  one  of  the  principal  and  most  popular  perform- 
ers. Upon  the  publication  of  (lobbes's  treatise  of  "  Hu- 
man Nature,"  &c.  1650,  Bathurst  prefixed  a  recommen- 
datory copy  of  Latin  iambics,  written  with  so  much 
strength  of  thought,  and  elegance  of  expression,  that  they 
fully  established  his  character  as  a  Latin  poet ;  and  recom- 
mended him  to  the  notice  of  the  duke  of  Devonshire,  by 
whose  interest  he  afterwards  obtained  the  deanery  q£  Wells* 
He  had  thought  fit,  by  a  temporary  compliance,  to  retain 
his  fellowship  at  Oxford,  under  the  conditions  of  the  par- 
liamentary visitation  in  1648,  and  after  the  death  of  Crom* 
well,  procured  a  majority  of  the  fellows  of  his  college,  in 
1659,  to  elect  Dr.  Seth  Ward  president,  who  was  abso- 
lutely disqualified  for  it  by  the  college-statutes.  After 
the  Restoration,  he  re-assumed  tho  character  of  a  clergy- 
man, and  returned  to  his  theological  studies,  but  with  little 
hope  or  ambition  of  succeeding  in  a  study,  which  he  had 
so  long  neglected  :  however,  he  was  made  king's  chaplain 
in  1663.  He  was  chosen  president  of  his  college  Septem- 
ber 10,  1664,  and  the  same  year  he  was  married,  Decem- 
ber 31,  to  Mary,  the  widow  of  Dr.  John  Palmer,  warden 
of  All  Souls  college,  a  woman  of  admirable  accomplish- 
ments. June  28,  1670,  he  was  installed  dean  of  Wells, 
procured,  as  before  mentioned,  by  the  interest  of  the  duke 
of  Devonshire.  In  April  1691,  he  was  nominated  by  king 
William  and  queen  Mary,  through  the  interest  of  lord 
Somers,  to  the  bishopric  of  Bristol,  with  licence  to  keep 
his  deanery  and  headship  in  commendam ;  but  he  declined 
the  acceptance  of  it,  lest  it  should  too  much  detach  him  from 
bis  college,  and  interrupt  the  completion  of  those  improve- 
ments in  its  buildings,  which  he  had  already  begun,  and 
Vol.  IV.  L 


U6  BATHURST.. 

an  account  of  which  may  be  seen  in  the  History  of  Oxford. 
Had  Dr.  Bathurst  exerted  his  activity  and  interest  alone 
for  the  service  of  his  society,  he  might  have  fairly  claimed 
the  title  of  an  ample  benefactor ;  but  his  private  liberality 
concurred  with  his  public  collections.     He  expended  near 
3000/.  of  his  own  money  upon  it,  and  purchased  for  the 
use  of  the  fellows,  the  perpetual  advowson  of  the  rectory 
of  Addington  upon  Otmere,  near  Oxford,  with  the  sum  of 
400/.  in  1 700.    Nor  was  he  less  serviceable  by  his  judicious 
discipline  and  example,  his  vigilance  as  a  governor,  and 
his  eminence  as  a  scholar,  which  contributed  to  raise  the 
reputation  of  the  college  to  an  extraordinary  height,  and 
filled  it  with  students  of  the  first  rank  and  family.     He  is 
said  to  have  constantly  frequented  early  prayers  in  the 
chapel,  then  at  five  in  the  morning,  till  his  eighty-  second 
year,  and  he  punctually  attended  the  public  exercises  of 
the  college,  inspected  the  private  studies,  relieved  the 
wants,  and  rewarded  the  merit  of  his  scholars.     In  the 
mean  time  he  was  a  man  of  the  world,  and  his  lodgings 
were  perpetually  crowded  with  visitants  of  the  first  dis- 
tinction. .  October  3,  1673,  he  was  appointed  vice-chan- 
cellor of  the  university,  and  continued  for  the  two  follow- 
ing years,  the  duke  of  Ormond  being  chancellor.     During 
the  execution  of  this  office,  he  reformed  many  pernicious 
abuses,  introduced  several  necessary  regulations,  defended 
the  privileges  of  the  university  with  becoming  spirit,  and 
to  the  care  of  the  magistrate  added  the  generosity  of  the 
benefactor.   He  established  the  present  practice  of  obliging 
the  bachelors  of  arts  to  stipulate  for  their  determination  : 
he  endeavoured,  at  the  command  of  the  king,  to  introduce 
a  more  graceful  manner  of  delivering  the  public  sermons  at 
St.  Mary's,  to  which  church  he  was  also  a  benefactor,  and 
introduced  several  other  improvements  in  the  academical 
ceconomy.   As  Dr.  Bathurst  was  intimately  acquainted  with 
the  most  eminent  literary  characters  of  his  age,  few  re- 
markable productions  in  literature  were  undertaken  or  pub- 
lished without  his   encouragement  and  advice.     Among 
many  others,  Dr.  Sprat,  Dr.  South,  Dr.  Busby,  Dr.  Alles- 
tree,  Creech  the  translator,  sir  George  Ent,  a  celebrated 
physician  and  defender  of  the  Harveyan  system,  were  of 
his  common  acquaintance.     Such  were  his  friends  ;  but  he 
had  likewise  his  enemies,  who  have  hinted  that  he  was  un- 
settled in  his  religious  principles.     This  insinuation  most 
probably  arose  from  his  iambics  prefixed  to  Hobbes's  book* 


B  A  T  H  U  R  S  T,  147 

which  are  a  mere  sport  of  genius,  written  without  the  least 
connection  with  Hobbes,  and  contain  no  defence  or  illus- 
tration of  his  pernicious  doctrine,  which,  however,  did  not 
appear  at  that  time  to  be  so  pernicious.  And  the  sincere  and 
lasting  intimacies  he  maintained  with  Skinner,  Fell,  South, 
Allestree,  Aldrich,  and  several  others,  are  alone  an  unan- 
swerable refutation  of  this  unfavourable  imputation.     He 
died  in  his  eighty-fourth  year,  June  14,  1704.     He  had 
been  blind  for  some  time ;  and  his  death  was  occasioned  by 
a  fracture  of  his  thigh,  while  he  was  walking  in  the  garden, 
which,  on  the  failure  of  his  eyes,  became  his  favourite  and 
only  amusement.     Under  this  malady  he  languished  for 
several  days  in  acute  agonies.     It  is  said  that  at  first,  and 
for  some  time,  he  refused  to  submit  to  the  operations  of 
the  surgeon,  declaring  in  his  tortures,  that  there  was  no 
marrow  in  the  bones  of  an  old  man.     He  had  lost  his  me- 
mory a  year  or  two  before  his  death,  of  which  Mr.  Warton 
has  given  an  instance  which  we  could  have  wished  he  had 
suppressed.   He  was  interred  on  the  south  side  of  the  anti- 
chapel  of  Trinity  collegfe  without  the  least  appearance 
of  pomp  and   extravagance,  according  to  his  own  ap- 
pointment.    He  left  legacies  in    his  will  to  his  friends, 
servants,  and  the  college,  to  the  amount  of  near  1000/. 
As  to  his  character,  it  is  observed  that  his  temperance  in 
eating  and  drinking,  particularly  the  latter,  was  singular 
and  exemplary.     Amidst  his  love  of  the  polite  arts,  he  had 
a  strong  aversion  to  music,  and  discountenanced  and  de- 
spised the  study  of  all  external  accomplishments,  as  incom- 
patible with  the  academical  character.     His  behaviour  in 
general  was  inoffensive  and  obliging.    The  cast  of  his  con- 
versation was  rather  satirical,  but  mixed  with  mirth  and 
pleasantry.     He  was  remarkably  fond  of  young  company, 
and  indefatigable  in  his  encouragement  of  a  rising  genius. 
John  Philips  was  one  of  his  chief  favourites,  whose  "  Splen-  ' 
did  Shilling"  was  a  piece  of  solemn  ridicule  suited  to  his 
taste.     Among  his  harmless  whims,  he  delighted  to  sur- 
prize the  scholars,  when  walking  in  the  grove  at  unseason- 
able hours;  on  which  occasions  he  frequently  carried  a 
whip  in  his  hand,  an  instrument  of  academical  correction, 
then  not  entirely  laid  aside.     But  this  he  practised,  on  ac- 
count of  the  pleasure  he  took  in  giving  so  odd  an  alarm, 
rather  than  from  any  principle  of  reproving,  or  intention 
of  applying  an  illiberal  punishment.     In  Latin  poetry,  Ovid 
was  his  favourite  classic.     One  of  his  pupils  having  asked 

L  3 


148  BATHURST, 

him  what  book  among  all  others  he  chose  to  recommend  ? 
he  answered,  "  Ovid's  Metamorphoses."     The  pupil,  in 
consequence  of  this  advice,  having  carefully  perused  the 
Metamorphoses,  desired  to  be  informed  what  other  proper 
book  it  would  be  necessary  to  read  after  Ovid,  and  Dr. 
Bathurst  advised  him  to  read  "  Ovid's  Metamorphoses"  a 
second  time.     He  had  so  mean  an  opinion  of  his  perform- 
ances in  divinity,  that  in  his  will  he  enjoins  his  executors 
entirely  to  suppress  all  his  papers  relating  to  that  subject, 
and  not  to  permit  them  to  be  perused  by  any,  excepting 
a  very  few  such  friends  as  were  likely  to  read  them  with 
candour.     We  are  told,  however,  that  on  Sunday,  March 
20,  1680,  he  preached  before  the  house  of  commons  at  St. 
Mary's,  the  university  church,  and  gave  much  satisfaction. 
His  manner  was  nearly  that  of  Dr.  South,  but  with  more 
elegance   and  felicity  of  allusion.     His  Life,  written  by 
Mr.  Thomas  Warton,  is  perhaps  one  of  the  most  correct 
of  that  author's  performances,  and  contains  Dr.  Bathurst's 
miscellaneous  works,  which,  though  they  have  great  merit 
in  their  particular  way,  and  may  be  read  with  much  plea- 
sure, are  not  written  in  such  a  taste  as  entitles  them  to 
imitation.     This  is  acknowledged  by  Mr.  Warton.     "  His 
Latin  orations,"  says  that  ingenious  Biographer,  "  are  won- 
derful specimens  of  wit  and  antithesis,  which  were  the  de- 
light of  his  age.     They  want  upon  the  whole  the  purity 
and  simplicity  of  Tully's  eloquence,  but  even  exceed  the 
sententious  smartness  of  Seneca,  and  the  surprising  turns 
of  Pliny.     They  are  perpetually  spirited,  and  discover  an 
uncommon  quickness  of  thought.     His  manner  is  concise 
and  abrupt,  but  yet  perspicuous  and  easy.     His  allusions 
are  delicate,  and  his  observations  sensible  and  animated. 
His  sentiments  of  congratulation  or  indignation  are  equally 
forcible  :  his  compliments  are  most  elegantly  turned,  and 
his  satire  is  most  ingeniously  severe.     These  compositions 
are  extremely  agreeable  to  read,  but  in  the  present  im- 
provement of  classical  taste,  not  so  proper  to  be, imitated* 
They  are  moreover  entertaining,  as  a  picture  of  the  times, 
and  a  history  of  the  state  of  .academical  literature.     This 
smartness  does  not  desert  our  author  even  on  philosophical 
subjects."     Among  Dr.  Bathurst's  Oratiunculae,   his   ad- 
dress to  the  convocation,  about  forming  the  barbers  of  Ox- 
ford into  a  company,  is  a  most  admirable  specimen  of  his 
humour,  and  of  that  facetious  invention,  with  which  few 
vice-chancellors  would  have  ventured  to  enforce  and  en* 


B  A  T  H  U  R  S  T.  149 

liven  such  a  subject.  We  doubt,  indeed,  whether  a  pa- 
rallel to  this  exquisite  piece  of  humour  can  be  found.  With 
regard  to  the  doctor's  Latin  poetry,  though  his  hexameters 
have  an  admirable  facility,  an  harmonious  versification, 
much  terseness  and  happiness  of  expression,  and  a  certain 
original  air,  they  will  be  thought,  nevertheless,  too  pointed 
and  ingenious  by  the  lovers  of  Virgil's  simple  beauties. 
The  two  poems  which  he  hath  left  in  iambics  make  it  to 
be  wished  that  he  had  written  more  in  that  measure.  "  That 
pregnant  brevity,"  says  Mr.  Warton,  "  which  constitutes 
the  dignity  and  energy  of  the  iambic,  seems  to  have  been 
his  talent."  Dr.  Bathurst's  English  poetry  has  that  rough- 
ness of  versification  which  was,  in  a  great  degree,  the  fault 
of  the  times.  * 

BATMAN,  or  BATEMAN  (Stephen),  ranked  among 
the  old  English  poets  of  the  sixteenth  century,  was  a  native 
of  Somersetshire;  and  born  at  Bruton,  in  that  county, 
where  he  was  educated.  He  afterwards  went  to  Cambridge, 
and  studied  philosophy  and  divinity,  and  when  in  orders 
acquired  the  character  of  a  learned  and  pious  preacher.  It 
is  in  his  favour  that  he  was  long  domestic  chaplain  to  arch- 
bishop Parker,  whom  he  assisted  in  the  collecting  of  books 
and  MSS.  and  informs  us  himself  that  within  the  space  of 
four  years,  he  had  added  six  thousand  seven  hundred  books 
to  the  archbishop's  library.  This  information  we  have  in 
his  "  Doom."  Speaking  of  the  archbishop,  under  the  year 
1575,  the  year  he  died,  he  adds,  "  with  whom  books  re- 
mained (although  the  most  part,  according  to  the  time,  su- 
perstitious and  fabulous,  yet)  some  worthy  the  view  and 
safe- keeping,  gathered  within  four  years,  of  divinity,  astro- 
nomy, history,  physic,  and  others  of  sundry  arts  and  sciences 
(as  I  can  truly  avouch,  having  his  grace's  commission, 
whereunto  his  hand  is  yet  to  be  seen)  six  thousand  seven 
hundred  books,  by  my  own  travel,  whereof  choice  being 
taken,  he  most  graciously  bestowed  many  on  Corpus  Christi 
college  in  Cambridge,  &c."  In  1574,  he  was  rector  of 
Merstham  in  Surrey,  and  afterwards,  being  then  D.  D.  chap- 
lain to  Henry  lord  Hunsdon,  to  whom  he  dedicated  his 
translation  of  "  Bartholomseus  de  proprietatibus  rerum," 
Lond.  1582,  fol.  The  other  work  above-mentioned  is  en- 
titled "  The  Doom,  warning  all  men  to  judgment :  wherein 
are  contained  for  the  most  part  all  the  strange  prodigies 

i  Life  by  Warton.— -Bio*.  Brit.— Wood'f  Ath.  vol  II.— Hut.  of  Oiford,  rol.  If. 


150  BATMAN. 

happened  in  the  world,  with  divers  secret  figures  of  reve- 
lation, gathered  in  the  manner  of  a  general  chronicle  out 
of  approved  authors,  by  Stephen  Batman,  professor  in  di- 
vinity," London,  1531,  4to.     It  appears  to  be  a  transla- 
tion of  Lycosthenes  "  De  prodigiis  et  ostentis,"  with  ad- 
ditions from  the  English  chronicles.     He  published  also 
"  A  christall  glass  of  Christian  reformation,  wherein  the 
godly  may  behold  the  coloured  abuses  used  in  this  our  pre- 
sent time,"  London,  1569,4to,  with  some  pieces  of  poetry 
interspersed.     Mr.  Ritson  mentions  another  of  his  publica- 
tions in  the  same  year,  but  without  place  or  printer's  name, 
called  "  The  travayled  Pilgrime,  bringing  newes  from  all 
partes  of  the  worlde,  such  like  scarce  harde  of  before," 
4to.     This  Mr.  Ritson  describes  as  an  allegorico-theolo- 
gical  romance  of  the  life  of  man,  imitated  from  the  French 
or  Spanish,  in  verse  of  fourteen  syllables.  His  other  works, 
enumerated  by  Tanner,  are,  "  Joyfull  news  out  of  Helvetia 
from  Theophrastus  Paracelsus,  declaring  the  ruinate  fall  of 
the  Papal  Dignitie ;  also  a  treatise  against  Usury,"  Lond. 
1575,  8vo.     "  A  preface  before  John  Rogers,  displaying 
of  the  family  of  Love,"  1 579,  8vo.    "  Of  the  arrival  of  the 
three  Graces  into  England,  lamenting  the  abuses  of  this 
present  age,"  London,  4to,  no  date.     u  Golden  book  of 
the  leaden  gods,"    Lond.  1577,   4to,  mentioned  by  Mr. 
Warton  as  one  of  the  first  of  those  descriptions  of  the  hea- 
then gods,  called  a  Pantheon.  <*  Notes  to  Leland's  Asser- 
tio  Arthuri,  translated  by  Rich.  Robinson,"  Lond.  no  date. 
Batman  died  in  1587.     It  is,  perhaps,  unnecessary  to  add 
that  his  works  are  now  rarely  to  be  met  with,  particularly 
the  "  Doom,"  which  had  a  great  many  wooden  cuts  of 
monsters,  prodigies,  &c.     His  "  Christall  glass"  and  the 
u  Golden  book"  are  in  the  British  Museum.  * 

BATMANSON  (John),  a  Roman  catholic  divine  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  was  at  first  a  monk,  and  afterwards 
prior  of  the  Carthusian  monastery  or  Charter-house,  in  the 
suburbs  of  London.  For  some  time  he  studied  divinity  at 
Oxford ;  but  it  does  not  appear  that  he  took  any  degree  in 
that  faculty.  He  was  intimately  acquainted  with,  And  a 
great  favourite  of,  Edward  Lee,  archbishop  of  York ;  at 
whose  request  he  wrote  against  Erasmus  and  Luther.  He 
died  on  the  16th  of  November  1531,  and  was  buried  in  the 

1  Tanner  Bibl.  principally  from  Holinihed.-— Rition'i  Bibl.  £oe(.~ Herbert's 
Edit,  of  Ames. 


BATMANSON.  151 

chapel  belonging  to  the  Charter-house.  Pits  gives  him 
the  character  of  a  man  of  quick  and  discerning  genius;  of 
great  piety  and  learning,  and  fervent  zeal;  much  con- 
versant in  the  study  of  the  scriptures ;  and  that  led  an  an- 
gelical life  among  men.  Bale,  on  the  contrary,  represents 
him  as  a  proud,  forward,  and  arrogant  person ;  born  for 
disputing  and  wrangling ;  and  adds,  that  Erasmus,  in  one 
of  his  letters  to  Richard  bishop  of  Winchester,  styles  him 
an  ignorant  fellow,  encouraged  by  Lee,  and  vain-glorious 
even  to  madness,  but  Bale  allows  that  he  was  a  very  clear 
sophist,  or  writer.  "  John  Batmanson,"  Mr.  Warton  ob- 
serves, "  controverted  Erasmus's  Commentary  on  the  New 
Testament  with  a  degree  of  spirit  and  erudition,  which  was 
unhappily  misapplied,  but  would  have  done  honour  to  the 
cause  of  his  antagonist,  in  respect  to  the  learning  displayed." 
Dodd  says  that  he  revised  the  two  works  against  Erasmus 
and  Luther,  and  corrected  several  unguarded  expressions. 
Others  say  that  he  retracted  both,  the  titles  of  which  were, 
1.  "  Animadversiones  in  Anuotationes  Erasmi  in  Novum 
Testamentum."  2.  "  A  Treatise  against  some  of  M.  Lu- 
ther's writings."  The  rest  of  his  works  were,  3.  "  Com- 
mentaria  in  Proverbia  Salomonis."  4.  "  —  in  Cantica  Can* 
ticorum."  5.  "  De  unica  Magdalena,  contra  Fabrum  Sta- 
pulensem."  6.  "  Institutions  Noviciorum."  7.  "  De  con- 
temptu  Mundi."  8.  "  De  Christo  duodenni ;"  A  Homily 
on  Luke  ii.  42.  9,  "On  the  words  Missus  est,"  &c.  None 
of  his  biographers  give  the  dates  of  these  publications,  and 
some  of  them,  we  suspect,  were  never  printed. l 

BATON  I  (Pompeo),  one  of  the  greatest  painters  of  the 
last  century,  was  born  Feb.  5,  1708,  at  Lucca.  His  father, 
a  goldsmith,  devoted  him  to  that  art,  to  which  he  had  but 
little  inclination.  It  afforded  him,  however,  occasion  to 
exercise  himself  in  drawing,  and  to  exhibit  his  excellent 
talent  for  painting,  and  the  first  specimen  of  his  skill  which 
attracted  notice  was  a  golden  cup  of  exquisite  workman- 
ship, which  he  executed  so  satisfactorily,  that  his  capacity 
was  thought  to  be  far  superior  to  the  trade  of  a  goldsmith : 
and,  at  the  instance  of  his  godfather  Alexander  Quinigi, 
several  patriotic  noblemen  agreed  to  send  him  to  the  Ro- 
man academy  of  painting,  at  their  common  expence.  We 
are  told  that  until  he  had  reached  his  seventh  year,  he  was 

1  Bioff.  Brit.— Tanner— Ath.  Ox.  vol.  L-*Wartoa's  Hist,  of  Poetry,  vol  U, 
4M.— Dodd's  Ch.  History,  vol.  h 


152  BATON  I. 

dull  and  deformed,  and  had  not  the  power  to  turn  his 
head  on  either  side  without  moving  his  whole  body,  and 
that  throughout  life  his  appearance  was  such  as  bespoke  no 
extraordinary  genius.  When  his  friends  took  charge  of 
his  education  as  an  artist,  father  Diversi,  of  the  order  of 
Philippines,  and  the  abb6  Fatinelli,  envoy  at  Rome  from  the 
republic  of  Lucca,  to  whom  he  was  recommended,  took  him 
to  Sebastian  Concha  and  Augustine  Masucci,  who  were  at 
that  time  the  most  renowned  masters  of  the  Roman  school, 
that  he  might  make  choice  of  one  of  them  for  his  tutor  and 
guide.  But  the  antiques,  and  Raphael's  works,  from  the 
very  first,  made  so  strong  an  impression  on  his  mind, 
that  he  chose  rather  to  avoid  the  modern  manner,  and  form 
himself  entirely  on  the  old.  The  sensibility  with  which 
nature  had  endowed  him,  made  him  feel  that  there  could 
be  but  one  true  manner  in  the  practice  of  the  art,  and  that 
t  none  of  the  modern,  which  depart  so  far  from  the  antique, 
could  be  the  right.  Accordingly,  rejecting  the  advice  of 
his  masters,  he  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  the  antiques 
and  the  works  of  Raphael  d'Urbino.  How  diligent  he  was 
in  this  practice  is  seen  in  the  heads  still  in  being,  which  he 
copied  from  the  Dispute  on  the  Sacrament,  a  copy  of  the 
school  of  Athens,  painted  in  oil  and  not  quite  finished,  and 
the  various  commissions  he  received  from  foreigners  for 
drawings  of  the  best  originals. 

He  soon  became  sensible  of  the  method  by  which  Ra- 
phael and  the  antients  arose  to  that  high  degree  of  perfec- 
tion. To  catch  nature  in  the  fact  in  all  her  movements, 
was  their  grand  maxim,  and  this  maxim  Batoni  followed. 
Hence  all  his  figures  have  the  attitude  and  motion  the  na- 
ture of  the  case  requires.  In  his  paintings  we  find  no  trace 
of  the  artificial  composition  of  figures  which  then  univer- 
sally prevailed  ;  he  does  not  concentrate  the  light  on  some 
one  object  to  the  detriment  of  the  rest,  a  way  introduced 
by  Maratti ;  no  example  could  seduce  him  to  deviate  from 
the  path  of  nature.  In  the  hands  of  his  heirs  is  still  a  con-* 
siderable  number  of  drawings,  where  he  has  delineated  the 
various  motions  of  men,  and  especially  of  children,  the 
whole  of  the  human  figure,  and  the  different  folds  of  dra- 
pery, exactly  after  nature.  These  sketches  he  afterwards 
made  use  of  in  his  paintings,  and  finished  them  not  only 
by  the  liveliest  colouring,  but  also  with  the  finest  forms, 
which  he  had  imprinted  on  his  mind  by  the  study  of  the 
antique.    By  these  performances  he.  acquired  considerable 


B  A  T  O  N  L  15$ 

fame,  but  it  having  been  suggested  that  he  was  inferior  in 
the  art  of  colouring,  he  endeavoured  to  study  that  branch 
with  his  usual  enthusiasm  and  ambition,  and  having  ob- 
tained an  order  from  the  marquis  Gabrielli  di  Gubbio  to 
execute  a  new  altar-piece  for  the  chapel  of  his  illustrious 
family  in  the  church  of  St.  Gregory  at  Rome,  Batoni 
eagerly  embraced  this  favourable  opportunity  for  convincing 
the  public  of  his  skill  in  colouring ;  and  he  succeeded  so 
well,  that  the  connoisseurs  of  Rome  extolled  his  colouring 
as  much  as  they  had  done  his  drawing. 

As  the  excellency  of  Batoni  was  now  decidedly  con- 
fessed, he  had  frequent  and  advantageous  orders.  The 
learned  prelate,  and  afterwards  cardinal,  Furietti,  who  had 
the  direction  of  building  the  church  of  St.  Celsus,  gave  him 
the  picture  of  the  high  altar  to  execute,  which  Mengs  held 
to  be  the  purest  and  most  ingenious  of  all  his  performances. 

In  the  immaculate  conception,  which  has  been  more  than 
a  thousand  times  a  subject  for  painters,  Batoni  succeeded' 
so  well  for  the  church  of  the  Philippines  at  Chiari  near 
Brescia,  as  to  excite  the  attention  and  admiration  of  all 
good  judges.  His  next  piece  was  the  story  of  Simon 
the  magician  for  the  church  of  St  Peter  at  Rome ;  and 
among  his  other  most  admired  pictures  we  may  notice  the 
two  great  altar-pieces  which  he  executed  for  the  city  of 
Brescia,  whereof  one  represents  St.  Johannes  Nepomucenus 
with  Mary ;  and  the  other  the  offering  of  the  latter ;  two 
others  for  the  city  of  Lucca,  one  of  St.  Catherine  of  Siena, 
and  the  other  of  St.  Bartholomew ;  another  for  Messina, 
of  the  apostle  James ;  and  for  Parma,  John  preaching  in 
the  wilderness;  as  also  the  many  scriptural  pieces,  and 
especially  those  which  are  so  much  admired  in  the  sum- 
mer-house in  the  papal  gardens  of  Monte  Cavallo ;  the 
chaste  Susanna,  in  the  possession  of  his  heirs ;  the  Hagar, 
in  the  collection  of  an  English  gentleman ;  the  Prodigal 
son,  in  that  of  the  cardinal  duke  of  York ;  to  which  may 
be  added,  a  multitude  of  pictures  of  the  Virgin,  of  the  holy 
family,  and  saints  of  both  sexes,  which  he  executed  for 
private  persons.  He  likewise  acquired  great  fame  by  his 
Choice  of  Hercules,  which  he  painted  at  first  in  the  natural 
size,  and  afterwards  smaller,  for  the  Florentine  Marches© 
Ginosi,  as  a  companion  to  the  Infant  Hercules  strangling 
the  serpents.  Not  less  animated  and  expressive  is  another 
picture  of  the  same  kind,  in  which,  at  the  request  of  an 
English  gentleman,  he  has  depicted  Bacchus  and  Ariadne* 


154  B  A  T  O.N  f. 

Another  poetical  fiction,  which  he  has  superiorly  e*» 
pressed,  is  in  a  painting  that  is  still  with  his  heirs.  His 
intention  was  to  delineate  the  cares  and  solicitudes  of  a 
bloopiing  beauty.  She  lies  sleeping  on  a  magnificent 
couch  :  but  her  sleep  is  not  so  profound  as  to  break  off  all 
correspondence  between  the  mind  and  the  senses ;  it  is 
soft  and  benign,  as  usual  when  a  pleasing  dream  employs 
the  imagination.  The  effigies  of  Peace  and  War  was  one  of 
his  finest  performances,  and  which  he  executed  towards 
the  latter  end  of  his  life.  Mars,  in  complete  armour,  is 
rushing  to  the  combat,  sword  in  hand ;  an  exceedingly 
beautiful  virgin,  who  casts  on  him  a  look  of  sweetness  and 
intreaty,  at  the  same  time  presenting  him  with  a  branch  of 
palm,  places  herself  directly  in  his  way. 

The  vivacity  of  his  exuberant  fancy  was  not  in  the  least 
enervated  in  those  years  when  the  hand  no  longer  so  im- 
plicitly obeys  the  mind.  He  painted  for  prince  Yusupof, 
a  Cupid  returned  from  the  chace;  His  game  consists  of 
hearts  shot  through  with  arrows.  He  lays  them  in  the  lap 
of  the  sitting  Venus,  and  extends  both  his  arms  to  embrace' 
her.  She  testifies  her  "pleasure  by  gentle  caresses.  Such 
fine  ideas,  which  are  always  justly  drawn,  and  expressed 
in  the  liveliest  colouring,  excited  in  every  traveller,  and 
in  numbers  of  royal  and  princely  personages,  an  earnest 
desire  of  having  something  of  his  doing.  Commissions  of 
this  nature  were  innumerable.  Among  others  the  empress 
of  Russia  purchased  of  him  a  piece  on  a  large  scale,  the 
subject  Thetis  receiving  back  Achilles  from  the  centaur 
Chiron ;  and  another  of  equal  magnitude,  the  Continence 
of  Scipio.  He  executed  two  pictures,  representing  some 
parts  of  the  story  of  Diana,  for  the  king  of  Poland,  and  an- 
other for  the  king  of  Prussia,  with  the  family  of  Darius 
prostrating  themselves  in  the  presence  of  Alexauder.  Be- 
sides a  wonderful  delicacy  of  composition,  this  picture  ia 
rendered  particularly  striking  by  the  expression  of  the 
divers  passions  in  the  faces  of  the  captives,  exactly  suited 
to  their  various  ages  and  conditions,  and  gradually  declin- 
ing from  the  liveliest  feelings  of  anguish  in  the  mother  and 
wife  of  Darius,  to  the  indifference  and  laughter  of  the 
slaves  and  children. 

As  Batoni  was  accustomed  to  contemplate  nature  in  all 
her  changes  and  motions,  he  had  acquired  a  wonderful 
facility  in  tracing  out  even  the  most  imperceptible  features 
of  the  human  face,  which  betray  the  frame  of  mind  and  the 


BATONI.  155 

character  of  the  man.    The  portraits  he  drew  during  the 
long  course  of  his  life  are  not  to  be  numbered :  he  had 
drawn  not  only  the  popes  Benedict  XIV.  Clement  XIII. 
and  Pius  VI.  but  almost  all  the  great  personages  who  visited 
Rome  in  his  time,  at  their  own  particular  request.     When 
the  emperor  Joseph  II.  was  at  Rome  in  1770,  and  was  un- 
expectedly met  by  his  brother  the  grand  duke  of  Tuscany 
in  that  city,  he  was  desirous  that  this  meeting  should  be 
eternized  on  canvas  by  the  ablest  painter  that  could  be 
found  in  Rome,  and  the  emperor  pitched  upon  Batoni  for 
this  purpose.     The  picture,  when  finished,  so  highly  satis- 
fied him,  that  he  not  only  amply  rewarded  the  master,  but 
likewise  presented  him  with  a  golden  chain,  to  which  was 
suspended  a  medal  with  his  portrait,  and  a  snuff-box  of 
gold.     The  late  empress,  mother  of  the  two  monarchs, 
augmented  these  presents  by  giving  him  a  series  of  large 
golden  medals,  on  which  their  principal  achievements  were 
struck,  and  a  ring  richly  set  with  brilliants  ;  and  honoured 
him  with  a  letter,  in  which  she  demanded  that  the  like- 
ness of  her  sons,  which  terminated  at  the  knees,  should  be 
completed.     Batoni  finished  the  work  accordingly,  as  is 
seen  with  universal  admiration  in  the  large  copper-plates 
designed  by  himself,  and  engraved  by  Andrea  Rossi.     As 
an  additional  honour,  Batoni,  with  all  his  male  issue,  were 
raised  by  the  emperor  to  the  rank  of  nobility,  and  he  re- 
ceived from  the  empress  a  fresh  commission,  to  paint  her 
deceased  husband,  the  emperor  Francis,   after  a  portrait 
executed  at  Vienna.   He  also  here  fully  answered  the  expec- 
tation of  her  majesty,  and,  besides  a  suitable  recompense, 
he  received  likewise  the  portrait  of  the  emperor  Francis, 
set  round  with  large  brilliants. 

Batoni9  s  habitation  was  not  only  the  chief  residence  of 
the  Genius  of  painting  at  Rome,  but  her  sister  Music  dwelt 
there  in  equal  state.  His  amiable  daughter  Rufina,  who 
was  at  too  early  an  age  snatched  away  .by  death,  was  one 
of  the  completes  t  judges  of  vocal  music  in  all  Italy;  and 
no  person  of  quality  came  to  Rome,  who  was  not  equally 
desirous  of  seeing  the  paintings  of  Batoni,  and  of  hearing 
his  daughters  sing.  Among  these  were  also  the  grand  duke 
of  Russia  and  his  duchess.  He  here  saw  an  unfinished 
portrait  of  a  nobleman  belonging  to  his  suite,  which  pleased 
him  so  much,  that  he  gave  him  orders  to  paint  his  own. 
But,  as  the  departure  of  the  illustrious  travellers  was  so  very 
near,  he  set  his  hand  to  the  work  on  the  spot.    In  the  few 


i 


156  B  A  T  O  N  I. 

moments  that  were  delightfully  employed  by  the  imperial 
guest  in  hearing  the  songs  of  the  painter's  daughter,  the 
artist  himself  was  busy  in  sketching  his  picture  with  so 
striking  a  likeness,  that  the  grand  duchess  too  spared  so 
much  time  from  her  urgent  affairs  hi  the  last  days  of  her 
stay,  as  to  have  her  picture  drawn. 

It  was  an  easy  matter  to  him,  even  when  an  old  man  of 
70,  to  work  on  great  undertakings  for  several  hours,  with- 
out feeling  any  remarkable  fatigue  ;  he  even  employed  the 
few  moments  of  his  leisure  in  executing  some  paintings  of 
singular  merit,  such  as  the  holy  family  for  the  grand  duke 
of  Russia,  the  marriage  of  St.  Catharina,  the  Peace  and 
War,  of  which  mention  has  been  made  above.  Batoni  had 
for  some  time  complained  of  the  decay  of  his  vigour  and 
his  sight,  both  of  which  he  had  preserved  to  an  extraor- 
dinary degree,  though  far  advanced  beyond  his  70th  year, 
when  in  the  autumn  of  1786,  he  was  .touched  with  a  slight 
stroke  of  the  palsy  ;  from  which  he  did  not  so  thoroughly 
recover,  as  not  to  feel  ever  after  a  great  debility  both  of 
mind  and  body.  On  the  4th  of  February  of  the  following 
year,  1787,  death  put  the  finishing  hand  to  his  work,  by  a 
much  severer  stroke,  when  he  had  arrived  at  the  age  of  79 
years  and  one  day. 

He  was  much  devoted  to  religion,  was  liberal  towards 
the  poor,  friendly  to  his  pupils,  and  such  an  enemy  to  pomp 
and  ostentation,  that  he  very  seldom  wore  the  ensigns  of  the 
order  of  knighthood,  with  which  he  had  been  invested  by  the 
pope ;  and  always  went  very  modestly  habited.  He  never 
concerned  himself  about  any  thing  but  his  art,  aud  enjoyed 
an  amiable  contented ness  and  ease,  which  he  would  suffer 
nothing  in  the  world  to  disturb.  He  carried  this  disposi- 
tion so  far,  that  he  avoided  the  meetings  of  the  academy  of 
St.  Luke,  though  it  would  have  been  their  greatest  pleasure 
to  have  followed  any  hints  he.  might  have  thought  proper 
to  give  them.  Simplicity  and  sincerity  formed  the  basis 
of  his  moral  character.  Kvery  one  seemed  to  be  convinced 
of  this  immediately  on  seeing  him  ;  and  rarely  did  any  per- 
son feel  himself  affronted  when  he  told  him  disagreeable 
truths;  as  also  no  man  construed  it  into  a  mark  of  his 
vanity,  when  he  spoke  of  his  own  performances  with  self- 
satisfaction,  so  much  was  he  respected  on  account  of  his 
veracity. 

The  Roman  school  will  always  revere  him  as  the  restorer 
of  its  pristine  fame.    For  he  was  the  first  in  his  time  to 


B  A  T  O  N  I.  137 

throw  off  the  burdensome  bonds  of  certain  rules  which  had 
been  always  considered  as  the  fundamental  maxims  of  the 
art;  though  they  served  no  other  purpose  than  to  check 
the  progress  of  men  of  talents.  His  example  has  banished 
the  prejudice  of  mannering  from  the  Roman  school.  All 
now  draw  from  the  pure  sources  of  nature,  all  are  emulous 
to  excel  in  the  way  pointed  out  to  them  by  Raphael  and 
the  ancient  Greeks  for  attaining  to  perfection.  No  servile 
imitation  is  now  recommended.  That  every  practitioner 
must  choose  for  himself  what  he  finds  most  striking  and 
beautiful  in  the  vast  unlimited  scenes  of  nature,  is  become 
a  prime  maxim  in  the  art  of  painting,  and  it  is  highly  pro- 
bable that  the  return  of  the  flourishing  days  of  the  Caracci 
is  not  far  off. 

This  high  character  of  Batoni,  which  we  have  considerably 
abridged  from  the  last  edition  of  this  dictionary,  was  taken 
from  Boni's  Eloge  in  a  German  Journal,  and  although  we 
have  endeavoured  to  keep  down  the  enthusiasm  of  our 
predecessor,  yet  perhaps  even  now  the  article  is  dispro- 
portioned  to  the  merit  of  the  object,  and  to  our  scale  of 
lives.  It  is  therefore  necessary  to  subjoin  Mr.  Fuseli's 
opinion,  which  seems  moderated  by  taste  and  judgment. 
Mr.  Fuseli  says,  that  Batoni  "  was  not  a  very  learned  artist, 
nor  did  he  supply  his  want  of  knowledge  by  deep  reflec- 
tion. His  works  do  not  bear  the  appearance  of  an  atten- 
tive study  of  the  antique,  or  of  the  works  of  Raphael  and 
the  other  great  masters  of  Italy:  but  nature  seemed  to  have 
destined  him  for  a  painter,  and  he  followed  h^r  impulse. 
He  was  not  wanting  either  in  his  delineation  of  character, 
in  accuracy,  or  in  pleasing  representation  ;  and  if  he  had 
not  a  grand  conception,  he  at  least  knew  how  to  describe 
well  what  he  had  conceived.  He  would  have  been,  in  any 
age,  reckoned  a  very  estimable  painter ;  at  the  time  in 
which  he  lived,  he  certainly  shone  conspicuously.  His 
name  is  known  throughout  Europe,  and  his  works  are  every 
where  in  estimation.  Mengs,  who  was  a  more  learned 
man,  was  his  rival ;  but,  less  favoured  by  nature,  if  he 
enjoyed  a  higher  reputation,  he  owed  it  less  perhaps  to 
any  real  superiority,  than  to  the  commendations  of  Win- 
kelman."  * 

BATSCH  (Augustus  John  George  Charles),  a  learned 
contributor  to  the  science  of  Botany,  was  born  at  Jena! 

1  Eloge  by  Boiii.— Pilkington't  Diet 


153  B  A  T  S  C  H. 

Oct.  28,  1761,  and  acquired  considerable  reputation  by 
his  first  work,  "  Elenchus  Fungorum,"  Halle,  1783,  re- 
printed 1786,  8vo.  In  1792  he  was  appointed  professor 
of  philosophy  at  Jena,  where  he  founded  the  society  for 
the  advancement  of  natural  history,  of  which  he  was 
president  from  1793,  and  contributed  very  largely  to  the 
objects  of  the  society,  particularly  its  botanical  researches, 
in  the  course  of  which  he  introduced  many  important  dis- 
coveries and  improvements.  Among  his  other  published 
works,  which  are  all  in  German,  are:  1.  "An  introduc- 
tion to  the  knowledge  and  history  of  Vegetables,"  two 
parts,  with  plates,  Halle,  1787,  8vo.  2.  "Essays  on  Bo- 
tany and  vegetable  Physiology,"  two  parts,  Jena,  1792, 
8vo.  3.  "  Botany  for  ladies  and  amateurs,"  Weimar, 
1795,  1798,  1805,  8vo.  4.  "  An  introductory  essay  to 
the  knowledge  of  Animals  and  Minerals,"  twa  parts,  Jena, 
1789,  8vo.     This  author  died  Sept.  29,  1802.  * 

BATTAGLINI  (Mark}  was  born  at  Rimini,  March  25, 
1645,  of  a  noble  family,  and  studied  at  Cesena,  under  the 
most  celebrated  professors,  and  such  was  his  proficiency, 
that  he  was  honoured  with  a  doctor's  degree  at  the  age  of 
sixteen.     He  next  went  to  Rome,  where  Gaspar  de  Car- 
pegna,  then  auditor  of  the  Rota,  wished  him  to  accept  an 
office  in  that  tribunal,  and  employed  him  in  some  nego- 
ciations,  but  the  air  of  Rome  proving  unfavourable  to  his 
health,  he  removed  to  Ancona,  where  for  five  years  he 
filled  the  office  of  civil  lieutenant  of  that  city.     He  was 
afterwards  governor  of  various  towns,  the  last  of  which  was 
Fabriano.     In  1690,  pope  Alexander  VIII.  appointed  him 
bishop  of  Nocera,  and  in  1703  Clement  XL  commissioned 
him  to  visit  several  dioceses.     After  being  employed  in 
this  for  two  years,  the  pope  made  him  assistant  prelate, 
and  gave  him  the  abbey  of  St.  Benedict  of  Gualdo.     In 
1716  he  was  translated  to  the  see  of  Cesena,  which  he  en- 
joyed but  a  short  time,  dying  at  St.  Mauro,  Sept.  19,  17 17. 
He  wrote  in  Italian,    1.    "II  Legista  Filosofo,"  Rome, 
1680,  4to.     2.  "  Istoria  universale  di  tutti  i  Concili  Ge- 
nerali,"  Venice,   1689,  2  vols.  fol.     This  we  suspect  is  the 
second,    and   much  improved  edition.     3.  "  Annali  del 
Sacerdozio,"  4  vols.  fol.  Venice,   1701,  1704,  1709,  1711. 
He  wrote,  also,  some  devotional  tracts.  * 

1  Diet  Hist,  *  Moreri.— Niceron,  toI.  XIX. 


B  A  T  T  E  L  Y.  €59 

BATTELY  (Dr.  John),  an  English  antiquary,  was 
born  at  St.  Edmund's  Bury,  in  Suffolk,  in  1647.  He  was 
some  time  fellow  of  Trinity  college,  Cambridge,  and  chap- 
lain to  archbishop  Sancroft,  afterwards,  by  his  grace's  fa* 
vour,  rector  of  Adisham,  in  Kent,  prebendary  of  Canter- 
bury, and  archdeacon  of  the  diocese,  and  died  Oct.  10, 
1708.  Dr.  Thomas  Terry,  canon  of  Christ-church,  Ox- 
ford, published  Dr..  Battely' s  "  Antiquitates  Rutupins," 
in  1711,  8vo,  a  work  composed  in  elegant  Latin,  in  the 
form  of  a  dialogue  between  the  author  and  his  two  learned 
friends  and  brother  chaplains,  Dr.  Henry  Maurice,  and 
Mr.  Henry  Wharton.  The  subject  is  the  antient  state  of 
the  Isle  of  Thanet  A  second  edition  of  the  original  was 
published  in  1745,  4to,  with  the  author's  "Antiquitates 
St.  Edmondburgi,"  an  unfinished  history  of  his  native 
place,  and  its  ancient  monastery,  down  to  the  year  1272. 
This  was  published  by  his  nephew,  Oliver  Battely,  with 
an  appendix  also,  and  list  of  abbots,  continued  by  sir 
James  Burrough,  late  master  of  Caius  college,  Cambridge. 
The  doctor's  papers  are  said,  in  the  preface,  to  remain  in 
the  hands  of  his  heirs,  ready  to  be  communicated  to  any 
who  will  undertake  the  work.  In  1774,  Mr.  John  Dun- 
combe  published  a  translation  of  the  "  Antiquitates  Ru- 
tupinae,"  under  the  title  of  "  The  Antiquities  of  Rich- 
borough  and  Reculver,  abridged  from  the  Latin  of  Mr. 
Archdeacon  Battely,"  Lond.  1774,  12mo.  His  brother 
Nicholas  Battely,  A.  M.  was  editor  of  the  improved  edition 
of"  Somner's  Antiquities  of  Canterbury,"  and  wrote  some 
papers  and  accounts  of  Eastbridge  hospital,  in  Canterbury, 
which  are  printed  in  Strype's  life  of  Whitgift.  * 

BATTEUX  (Charles),  professor  of  philosophy  in  the 
college  royal,  member  of  the  French  academy  and  that  of 
inscriptions;  honorary  canon  of  Rheims,  was  born  in  that 
diocese  in  1713.  He  died  at  Paris  the  14th  of  July  1780. 
Grief  at  finding  that  the  elementary  books  for  the  use  of 
the  military  school,  the  composition  of  which  had  been 
entrusted  to  him  by  the  government,  did  not  succeed,  ac- 
celerated, it  is  said,  his  death.  This  estimable  scholar 
was  of  a  grave  deportment,  of  a  firm  character  without 
moroseness ;  his  conversation  was  solid  and  instructive, 
the  attainments  of  a-inan  grown  grey  in  the  study  of  Greek 

*  Duncombe's  preface  to  his  Abridgement— Gough's  Topography,  vol.  I.— 
Archaeologia,  voU  I.  xxvi,— NicoUou's  English  Historical  Library. 


160  BAT  T  E  U  X. 

• 

and  Roman  authors.  We  have  by  him,  I.  u  Cours  de 
belles-lettres,"  1760,  5  vols.  12mo;  to  which  are  added 
the  "  Beaux-arts  r£duits  k  un  m£me  principe,"  and  his 
tract  "  de  la  construction  oratoire,"  which  has  been  sepa- 
rately published.  These  books,  more  elaborate,  more 
methodical,  more  precise  than  the  "  Traite*  d'Etudes"  of 
Rollin,  are  written  with  less  elegance  and  purity.  The 
style  is  strongly  tinctured  with  a  metaphysical  air,  a  stiff 
and  dry  precision  reigns  through  the  whole,  but  a  little 
tempered  by  choice  examples,  with  which  the  author  has 
embellished  his  lessons.  He  is  likewise  censurable,  that 
when  he  discusses  certain  pieces  of  the  most  eminent 
French  writers,  for  instance,  the  fables  of  Fontaine,  the 
rage  for  throwing  himself  into  an  estacy  on  all  occasions, 
makes  him  find  beauties,  where  critics  of  a  severer  taste 
have  perceived  defects.  2.  "  Translation  of  the  works  of 
Horace  into  French,"  2  vols.  12mo;  in  general  faithful, 
but  deficient  in  warmth  and  grace.  3.  «  The  morality  of 
Epicurus,"  extracted  from  his  writings,  1758,  in  12 mo; 
a  book  well  compiled,  and  containing  a  great  stock  of 
erudition,  without  any  ostentatious  display  of  it.  4.  "  The 
four  poetics,  of  Aristotle,  of  Horace,  of  Vida,  and  of 
Boileau,"  with  translations  and  remarks,  1771,  2  vols.  8vo> 
a  work  that  evinces  the  good  taste  of  an  excellent  scholar, 
with  sometimes  the  amenity  of  an  academic.  5.  "  History 
of  primary  causes,"  1769,  8vo.  The  author  here  unfolds 
some  principles  of  the  ancient  philosopy.  6.  "  Element 
de  Literature,  extraits  du  Cours  des  Belles  Lettres,"  2  vols. 
12mo.  7.  His  "  Cours  61ementaire,"  for  the  use  of  the 
military  school,  45  vols.  12mo,  a  book  hastily  composed, 
in  which  he  has  copied  himself,  and  copied  others.  He 
was  admitted  of  the- academy  of  inscriptions  in  1759,  and 
of  the  academie  Fran£oise  in  1761,  and  was  a  frequent 
contributor  to  the  memoirs  of  both  societies.  He  was  still 
more  estimable  by  his  personal  qualities  than  by  his  lite- 
rary talents.  He  supported  by  his  bounty  a  numerous  but 
impoverished  family.  * 

BATT1E  (William),  an  English  physician  of  consider- 
able eminence,  was  born  at  Medbury,  in  Devonshire,  1 704, 
the  son  of  Edward  Battie,  and  grandson  of  William  Battie, 
D.  D.  He  received  his  education  at  Eton,  where  his  mo- 
ther resided  after  her  husband's  death,  in  order  to  assist 

»  Diet.  Hist— Saxii  Onamafticon,  toK  VIIL 


BATTIE.  161 

her  sod,  on  the  spot,  with  that  advice,  and  those  accom- 
modations, which  would  have  been  more  useless  and  ex- 
pensive,  had  she  lived  at  a  greater  distance.    In  1722  he 
was  sent  to  King's  college,  Cambridge,  and  on  a  vacaticy 
of  the  Craven  scholarship,  he  succeeded  to  it  by  a  com- 
bination of  singular  circumstances.     The  candidates  being 
reduced  to  six,  the  provost,  Dr.  Snape,  examined  them 
3II  together,  that  they  might,  as  he  said,  be  witnesses  to 
the  successful    candidate.      The  three    candidates  from 
King's  were  examined  in  Greek  authors,  and  the  provost 
dismissed  them  with  this  pleasing  compliment,    that  not 
being  yet  determined  in  his  choice,  he  must  trouble  them 
to  come  again.     The  other  electors  were  so  divided,  as, 
after  a  year  and  a  day,  to  let  the  scholarship  lapse  to  the 
donor's  family,  when  lord  Craven  gave  it  to  Battle.     Pro- 
bably the  remembrance  continued  with  him,  and  induced 
him  to  make  a  similar  foundation  in  the  university,  with  a 
stipend  of  20/.  a  year,  and  the  same  conditions  for  the  be- 
nefit of  others,  which  is  called  Dr.  Battie's  foundation. 
He  nominated  to  it  himself,  while  living,  and  it  is  now 
filled  up  by  the  electors  to  the  Craveu  scholarships.     To 
Battie  this  scholarship  was  of  much  importance,  and,  as 
appears  by  a  letter  he  wrote  in  1725,  when  he  got  it,  he 
was  enabled  to  live  comfortably.     In  1726,  he  took  his 
bachelor's,  and  in  1730,  his  master's  degree. 

His  intention  now  was  to  study  the  law,  and. in  order  to 
procure  the  means,  he  applied  to  two  old  bachelors,  his 
cousins*,  both  wealthy  citizens,  whose  names  were  Coleman, 
soliciting  the  loan  of  a  small  allowance,  that  he  might  be 
qualified  to  reside  at  one  of  the  inns  of  court,  but  they  de- 
clined interfering  with  his  concerns.  This  disappointment 
diverted  his  attention  to  physic,  and  he  first  commenced 
practitioner  at  Cambridge,  where,  in  1729,  be  printed 
'.'  Isocratis  Orationes  septem  et  epistolae.  Codicibus  MSS. 
nonnullis,  et  impressis  melioris  notae  exemplaribus  collatis : 
varias  lectiones  subjecit,  yersionem  novam,  notasque,  ex 
Hieronymo  Wolfiopotissimum  desumptas,  adjecit  Gul.  Bat- 
tie,  Col.  Reg.  Cantab.  Socius,"  8vo,  with  a  promise  in  the 
preface,  that  the  remainder  of  the  work  should  be  given  ra- 
tidiort  vestitu.  This  word  vestitu  being  construed  by  Dr.  Mo- 
rell  into  an  allusion  to  Battie's  residence  in  Taylors-\nn9  he 
wrote  some  ludicrous  verses,  which  were  inserted  at  the  time 
in  the  Grub-street  Journal.  On  this  edition  of  Isocrates, 
however,  Battie  regularly  employed  himself  for  a  certain 

Vol.  IV.  M 


162  B  A  T  T  I  E. 

time  every  day.  In  1737  he  took  his  degree  of  M.  D.  and 
probably  about  this  period,  the  Coletnans  retiring  from 
business,  settled  at  Brent  Ely  Hall,  in  the  county  of  Suf- 
folk", near  enough  to  admit  of  Dr.  Battle's  accepting  a  ge- 
neral invitation  to  their  house,  of  which  he  was  encouraged 
to  make  use  whenever  the  nature  of  his  business  allowed 
him  the  leisure.  This  he  did  with  no  small  inconvenience 
to  himself,  without  the  least  prospect  of  advantage,  not  to 
mention  the  wide  disproportion  between  their  political 
principles,  the  Colemans  being  genuine  city  Tories,  and 
the  doctor  a  staunch  Whig ;  though  both  parties  afterwards 
reversed  their  opinions  ;  yet  Dr.  Battie  was  one  whom  no 
consideration  of  advantage  in  the  most  trying  exigencies  of 
life  could  ever  prevail  on  to  swerve  from  what  he  conscien- 
tiously believed  to  be  truth. 

A  fair  opening  for  a  physician  happening  at  Uxbridge, 
induced  Dr.  Battie  to  settle  in  that  town.  At  his  first 
coming  there,  Dr.  Godolphin,  provost  of  Eton,  sent  his 
coach  and  four  for  him,  as  his  patient ;  but  the  doctor  sit- 
ting to  write  a  prescription,  the  provost,  raising  himself 
up,  said,  "  You  heed  not  trouble  yourself  to  write ;  I  only 
sent  for  you  to  give  you  credit  in  the  neighbourhood." 
His  medical  skill  here  being  attended  with  success,  he  was 
quickly  enabled  to  accumulate  500/.  with  which  in  his 
pocket,  he  again  paid  a  visit  to  his  relations  in  Suffolk, 
requesting  their  advice  how  to  dispose  of  bis  wealth  to  the 
best  advantage;  and  they  were  so  pleased  with  his  industry 
and  discretion,  that  from  that  hour  they  behaved  towards 
him  with  the  firmest  friendship.  He  then  removed  to  Lon- 
don, where  the  established  emoluments  of  his  practice 
produced  him  1000/.  a  year.  In  1738  or  1739,  he  ful- 
filled by  marriage  a  long  attachment  he  had  preserved  for 
a  daughter  of  Barnham  Goode,  the  under-master  of  Eton 
school  of  the  year  1691,  against  whom,  at  all  times,  the 
Colemans  expressed  the  niost  inveterate  political  antipathy. 
They,  however,  behaved  to  the  wife  with  the  utmost  ci-  . 
vility,  and  when  they  died,  they  left  Dr.  Battie  30,000/. 

In  1746  he  published  an  Harveian  oration,  and  in  1749, 
being  then  F.R.  S.  published  his  complete  edition  of 
Isocrates,  2  vols.  8vo,  a  work  of  which  the  learned  and 
critical  Harles  does  not  speak  in  the  highest  terms  of  com- 
mendation, and  seems  to  insinuate  that  the  editor  was  de- 
ficient in  judgment  and  talents.  In  the  dispute  which  the 
college  of  physicians  had  with  Dr.  Schomberg,  about  the 
year  1750,  Dr.  Battie  was  one  of  the  censors,  and  took  a 


B  A  T  T  I  E.  163 

very  active  part  against  that  gentleman,  in  consequence  o£ 
which  he  was  thus  severely,  but  not  altogether  unjustly 
ridiculed,  in  a  poem  called  "  The  Battiad,"  said  to  be 
written  by  Moses  Mendez,  Paul  Whitehead,  and  Dni 
Schomberg,  and  since  reprinted  in  Dilly's  "  Repository," 
1776.   .  The  lines  are  these : 

**  First  Battus  came,  deep  read  in  worldly  art, 

Whose  tongue  ne'er  knew  the  secrets  of  his  heart : 

In  mischief  mighty,  though  but  mean  of  size, 

And,  like  the  tempter,  ever  in  disguise.  \ 

See  him,  with  aspect  grave,  and  gentle  tread, 

By  slow  degrees  approach  the  sickly  bed.  , 

Then  at  his  club  behold  him  alter  d  soon, 

The  solemn  doctor  turns  a  low  buffoon  : 

And  he,  who  lately  in  a  learned  freak 

Foach'd  every  lexicon,  and  published  Greek, 

Still  madly  emulous  of  vulgar  praise, 

From  Punch's  forehead  wrings  the  dirty  bays." 

,  These  last  lines  allude  to  a  fact ;  and  by  successfully 
mimicking  that  low  character,  Dr.  Battie  is  said  to  have 
once  saved  a  young  patient's  life.  He  was  sent  for  to  a 
gentleman  who  was  alive  iu  1782,  but  at  that  time  only 
fourteen  or  fifteen  years  old,  who  was  in  extreme  misery 
from  a  swelling  in  his  throat;  when  the  doctor  understood 
what  the  complaint  was,  he  opened  the  curtains,  turned  his 
wig,  and  acted  Punch  with  so  much  humour  and  success, 
that  the  young  man,  thrown  almost  into  convulsions  from 
laughing,  was  so  agitated,  as  to  occasion  the  tumour  to 
break,  and  a  complete  cure  was  the  immediate  conse* 
quence. 

In  1751,  he  published  "  De  principiis  animalibus  exer* 
citationes  in  Coll.  Reg.  M edicorum,"  in  three  parts ;  which 
were  followed  the  year  after,  by  a  fourth.  These  were 
his  Lumleian  lectures,  delivered  at  the  college  of  physi- 
cians. In  1757,  being  then  physician  to  Sfc  Luke's  hos- 
pital, and  master  of  a  private  mad-house  near  Wood's  close, 
in  the  road  to  Islington,  he  published  in  4to,  "  A  treatise 
on  Madness ;"  in  which,  having  thrown  out  some  censures 
on  the  medicinal  practice  formerly  used  in  Bethlem 
hospital,  he  was  replied  to,  and  severely  animadverted 
on,  by  Dr.  John  Monro,  whose  father  had  been  lightly 
apoken  of  in  the  forementioned  treatise.  Monro  having 
humorously  enough  taken  Horace's  O  major  tandem  parcas 
insane  minan\  for  the  motto  of  his  Remarks  on  Battle's 
Treatise,  the  wits  gave  him  the  name  of  major  BaUie,  in* 

M  2 


164  BAtTTIE. 

Stead  of  doctor.  In  1762  he  published  "  Aphorismi  de 
cognoscendis  et  curandis  morbis  nonnullis  ad  principia 
animalia  accommodati."  Feb.  1763,  he  was  examined 
before  a  committee  of  the  house  of  commons  on  the  state 
of  the  private  mad-houses  in  this  kingdom,  and  received 
in  their  printed  report  a  testimony  very  honourable  to  bis 
abilities. 

In  April  1764,  he  resigned  the  office  of  physician  to 
St.  Luke's  hospital.  In  1767,  when  disputes  ran  very  high 
between  the  college  of  physicians  and  the  licentiates, 
t)r.  Battie  wrote  several  letters  in  the  public  papers,  in 
vindication  of  the  college.  In  1776,  he  was  seized  with  a 
paralytic  stroke,  which  proved  fatal,  June  13,  in  his  7 2d 
year.  The  night  he  expired,  conversing  with  his  servant,  a 
lad  who  attended  on  him  as  a  nurse,  he  said  to  him,  "  Young 
man,  you  have  heard,  no  doubt,  how  great  are  the  terrors 
of  death.  This  night  will  probably  afford  you  some  ex- 
perience ;  but  may  you  learn,  and  may  you  profit  by  the 
example,  that  a  conscientious  endeavour  to  perform  his 
duty  through  life,  will  ever  close  a  Christian's  eyes  with 
comfort  and  tranquillity."  He  soon  after  departed,  with- 
out a  struggle  or  a  groan,  and  was  buried  by  his  own  di- 
rection, at  Kingston-upon-Thames,  "  as  near  as  possible 
to  his  wife,  without  any  monument  or  memorial  whatever." 
He  left  three  daughters,  Anne,  Catherine,  and  Philadelphia, 
of  whom  the  eldest  was  married  to  sir  George  Young  (a  gal* 
lant  English  admiral  who  died  in  1810.)  This  lady  sold  her 
father's  house  and  estate  at  Marlow,  called  Court  garden, 
to  Mr.  Davenport,  an  eminent  surgeon  of  London.  The 
second  was  married  to  Jonathan  Rashleigh,  esq.  and  the 
third  to  John,  afterwards  sir  John  Call,  bart.  in  the  hon. 
East  India  company's  service.  Dr.  Battie  gave  by  his  will 
100/.  to  St  Luke's  hospital ;  100/.  to  the  corporation  for 
the  relief  of  widows  and  children  of  clergymen,  and  twenty 
.guineas  to  earl  Camden,  as  a  token  of  regard  for  his  many 
public  and  private  virtues.  His  books  and  papers,  whe- 
ther published  or  not,  he  gave  to  his  daughter  Anne. 
Among  these  was  a  tract  on  the  meaning  of  1  Cor.  xv.  22, 
,  and  some  others  which  were  printed  before  his  death,  but 
not  published,  nor  have  we  seen  a  copy. 

Dr.  Battie,  it  may  already  be  surmised,  was  of  that  class 
called  humourists,  and  he  had  also  a  turn  fo»  speculations 
a  little  out  of  the  way  of  his  profession.  His  house  at 
Marlow  was  built  under  his  own  direction,  but  he  for- 


B  ATT  IE.  m 

got  the  stair-case,  and  all  the  offices  below  were  coif* 
stantly  under  water.  A  favourite  scheme  of  his,  for 
having  the  barges  drawn  up  the  river  by  horses  instead  of 
men,  rendered  him  unpopular  among  the  bargemen,  and 
at  oue .  time  he  narrowly  escaped  being  thrown  over  the 
bridge  by  them,  but  he  pacified  them  by  acting  Punch. 
In  this  scheme  he  is  said  to  have  lost  1 500/.  and  for  fear 
of  future  insults,  he  always  carried  pocket-pistols  about 
him.  He  affected  in  the  country  to  be  his  own  day-la- 
bourer, and  to  dress  like  one,  and  was,  oh  one  Occasion, 
refused  admittance  to  a  gentleman's  house,  where  he  was 
intimate,  the  servants  not  knowing  him  in  this  disguise, 
but  he  forced  himself  in  by  main  force.  Upon  the  whole, 
however,  he  was  a  man  of  learning,  benevolence,  and 
drill,  i  -  ■         • 

BATTIFERA,  LAURA.  See  AMMINATI,  BARTHO- 
LOMEW. 

BATTISH1LL  (Jonathan),  an  English  musician  and 
composer,  was  born  in  London,  1738.  Discovering  at  a 
very  early  age  an  uncommon  genius  for  music,  and  having 
an  excellent  voice,  he  was,  in  1 747,  placed  in  the  choir 
of  St.  Paul's,  under  the  tuition  of  Mr.  Savage,  then  master 
of  the  young  gentlemen  of  that  cathedral.  He  was  soon 
qualified  to  sing  at  sight,  and  before  he  had  been  in  the 
choir  two  years,  his  performances  discovered  uncommon 
taste  and  judgment.  On  his  voice  changing  at  the  usual 
period  of  life,  he  became  an  articled  pupil  of  Mr.  Savage 
and  at  the  expiration  of  his  engagement,  came  forth  one 
of  the -first  extempore  performers  in  this  country.  He  had 
now  just  arrived  at  manhood,  and  having  a  pleasing,  though 
not  powerful  voice,  a  tasteful  and  masterly  style  of  exe» 
tuition  on  the  harpsichord,  a  fund  of  entertaining  informa- 
tion acquired  by  extensive  reading,  a  pleasing  manner, 
and  a  gay  and  lively  disposition,  he  possessed,  in  an  emi- 
nent degree,  the  power  of  rendering  himself  agreeable  in 
every  company  ;  and  his  society  and  instruction  were 
courted  by  persons  of  the  highest  ranks.  Every  encourage* 
roent  was  offered  to  excite  his  future  efforts*  and  promote 
his  professional  success  5  and  no  prospects  could  be  fairer 
or  more  flattering  than  those  which  he  had  now  before  him* 

Of  these  advantages,  however,  he  does  not  appear  to 
have  availed  himself  in  the  fullest  extent.     After  leaving 

I  Nichols's  Life  of  Bowyer,  8?o.— Harwood's  Alumni  Etoneuses. 


166  BATTISHILL. 

Mr.  Savage,  we' find  him  composing  songs  for  Sidler's 
Wells,  and  afterwards  performing  on  the  harpsichord  at 
Covent-garden  theatre,  where  he  married  Miss  Davies, 
a  singer,  but  did  not  permit  her  any  more  to  appear  ill 
public.  Soon  after  this  marriage,  he  obtained  the  place  of 
organist  to  the  churches  of  St  Clement,  East-cheap,  and 
of  Christ-church,  Newgate-street,  and  about  this  time 
published  a  series  of  songs,  highly  creditable  to  his  talents, 
and  his  reputation  was  yet  more  promoted  by  composing 
part  of  the  opera  of  Alcmena,  in  conjunction  with  Mr. 
Michael  Arne.  But  these  and  similar  compositions  did 
not  divert  his  mind  from  cathedral  music,  in  which  style 
he  composed  some  excellent  anthems,  since  republished 
in  Mr.  Page's  Harmonia  Sacra.  He  also,  at  the  express 
desire  of  the  Rev.  Charles  Wesley,  father  of  the  present 
Messrs.  Charles  and  Samuel  Wesley,  set  to  music  a  col- 
lection of  hymns,  written  by  that  gentleman,  the  melodies 
of  which  are  peculiarly  elegant,  yet  chaste  and  appropriate. 
In  the  catch  and  giee  style,  he  also  gave  convincing  proofs 
of  the  diversity  of  his  taste  and  genius,  and  in  1770  ob- 
tained the  gold  medal  given  by  the  noblemen's  catch-club, 
for  his  well-known  glee  "  Underneath  this,  myrtle  shade." 
With  such  talents,  and  the  approbation  which  fqllqwed  tfee 
exertion  of  them,  he  appears  to  {iave  relaxed  into  indif- 
ference, and  in  his  latter  years  seldom  came  forward  as  a 
composer.  Except  two  excellent  collections  of  three 
and  four  part  songis,  and  a  few  airs  composed  for  a  col- 
lection published  by  Harrison  of  Paternoster-row,  nothing 
appeared,  from  his  peu  for  the  last  thirty  years  of  his  life* 
tHis-time  was  spent  in  his  library,  where  he  had  accumu- 
lated a  very  large  collection  of  valuable  books,  or  in  at* 
tending  bis  pupils,  or  in  what  was,  perhaps,  as  frequent 
and  less  wise,  in  convivial  parties.  He  was  blest  with  an 
uncommonly  strong  constitution :  but  the  excesses  in  which 
he  too  frequently  indulged,  together  with  his  insuperable 
grief  for  the  loss  of  his  friend  colonel  Morris,  lately  killed 
in  Flanders,  visibly  preyed  upon  his  health ;  and  he  ber 
came  so  ill  during  his  last  autumn,  as  to  be  confined  to  his 
chamber.  He  was  advised  to  try  sea-bathing,  and  the  air 
of  Margate,  but  tlnese  rendered-  him  no  ^ervipe.  He  re* 
turned  from  that  place  rather  wotse  than  when  he  left  tpwn  ; 
and,  agreeably  to  the  advice  of  bis  physician*,  took  apart* 
tnents  at  Islington,  where  his  general  debility  still  con- 
tinued to  increase,  and  where  he  expired  on  Thursday,  the  k 


B  A  T  T  I  S  H  I  L  L.  167 

10th  of  December,  1801,  aged  sixty-three  years,  and  was 
interred,  according  to  his  dying  wish,  in  the  vaults  of  St. 
Paul's  cathedral.  Some  of  the  manuscript  compositions  he 
left  have  since  been  published  by  Mr.  Page. l 
:  BATY  (Richard),  rector  of  the  parish  of  Kirkandrews 
upon  Esk,  in  Cumberland,  was  born  in  the  parish  of  Ar- 
thuret,  and  received  his  academical  education  in  the  uni- 
versity of  Glasgow,  where  he  was  admitted  to  the  degree 
of  A.  M.  in  1725.  He  afterwards  became  curate  of  Kirk- 
andrews; and  in  this  situation,  his  exemplary  conduct, 
and  faithful  discharge  of  the  ministerial  duties,  recom* 
mended  him  so  effectually  to  lord  viscount  Preston,  that 
on  a  vacancy,  he  presented  him  to  the  rectory  in  1732. 
As  there  was  no  parsonage-house,  nor  glebe- appropriated 
to  the  living,  on  its  separation  from  Arthuret,  he  built  the 
house  contiguous  to  the  old  tower  at  Kirkandrews,  with 
barns,  stables,  &c.  entirely  at  his  own  expence,  having 
first  obtained  a  lease  of  the  situation  and  farm  there  during 
his  incumbency.  The  parish  is  divided  by  the  river  Esk ; 
and  as  there  is  no  bridge  on  this  part  of  it,  he  established 
a  ferry  for  the  use  of  those* coming  to  church.  He  likewise 
promoted  the  building  of  the  school-house  near  Meadhope 
(endowed  by  lady  Widrington  and  her  sister),  and  for  the 
information  of  those  of  maturer  years,  he  printed,  at  New- 
castle, 1750,  a  "  Sermon  on  the  Sacrament;"  with  prayers 
for  the  use  of  persons  in  private,  and  of  families,  which  he 
distributed  liberally  apaong  them.  With  the  same  views  he 
published,  in  1751,  a  small  volume  entitled  "Seasonable 
advice  to  a  careless  world,"  in  essays,  &c.  and  lastly,  in 
1756,  "  The  young  Clergyman's  Companion  in  visiting  the 
Sick ;"  all  these  without  his  name.  He  was  also  skilful, 
and  much  consulted,  as  an  oculist,  but  his  advice  and  ap- 
plications were  always  gratuitous.  His  temper  and  man- 
ners  were  mild  and  conciliating,  his  company  much  in  re- 
quest, and  his  house  presented  a  scene  of  hospitality  to 
the  utmost  of  his  abilities.     He  died  in  175 8-.  * 

BAUDART  (William),  a  protestant  divine,  was  born 
at  Deinse  in  Flanders,  in  1565,  whence  his  parents  being 
obliged  to  fly  on  account  of  their  religion,  he  was  brought 
first  to  Cologne,  and  afterwards  to  Embden,  where  he  stu- 

1  From   aa  account  communicated  by  Dr.  Busby  to  the  Monthly  Maga- 
zine, 1802. 
'  Hutchinson's  Hist  of  Cumberland,  toI.  II.  p.  681, 


168  .  B  A  U  D  A  R  T, 

died  with  great  assiduity  and  success  the  learned  languages 
of  the  East  and  West.     When  admitted  into  holy  orders, 
the  church  of  Sueek  in  Friesland,  and  that  of  Zutphen, 
invited  him  to  become  their  pastor.    The  famous  Synod  of 
Dort,  held  in  1618  and  1619,  appointed  him,  withBoger- 
xnan  and  Bucerus,  to  make  a  new  translation  of  the  Old 
Testament  into  Dutch.     Bucerus  died,  and  Baudart,  after 
employing  six  years  on  the  work,  with  his  remaining  col- 
league, died  also  at  Zutphen  in  1640.     He  was  a  man  of 
uncommon  industry,  and  so  fond  of  literary  employment 
that  he  chose  for  his  motto  "  Labor  mihi  quies."     Besides 
this  translation  of  the  Bible,  he  published  a  supplement  to 
Van  Meteren's  history,  containing  affairs  ecclesiastical  an<^ 
political  from  1602  to  J  624.  This  was  published  in  Dutch, 
at  Zutphen  1624,  2  vols.  fol.     His  popish  critics  object 
to  him  that  his  orthodoxy  has  interfered  rather  too  much 
with  his  impartiality.     He  also  published  *'  Polemographia 
Auriaco-Belgica,"  a  collection  of  two  hundred  and  ninety-* 
nine  engravings,  with  some  illustrative  Latin  verses  under 
each,  1621,  4to. ;  a  similar  collection  of  two  hundred  and 
ejghty«-five  prints,  representing  the  sieges,   battles,    &c; 
belong  to  the  Belgic  history,  from  1559  to  1612,  in  oblong 
4to  ;  and  a  collection  of  memorable  apophthegms.     This, 
if  the  same  with  what  Foppen  calls  "  Les  Guerres  de  Nas* 
sau,"  was  published  in  1616. * 

BAUDELOT  (Charles  C^sar)  de  Dairval,  an  emi* 
pent  French  antiquary,  was  born  at  Paris,  Nov.  29,  1648. 
|Ie  studied  partly  at  Beauvais,  under  his  uncle  Halle,  an 
eminent  doctor  of  the  Sorbonne,  and  director  of  that  schqol, 
9.nd  afterwards  at  Paris  under  Danet,  author  of  the  dic- 
tionaries which  bear  his  name.  His  inclination  was  for 
medicine  as  a  profession,  but  family  reasons  decided  in 
favour  of  the  law,  in  which  he  became  an  advocate  of  par? 
liament,  pud  p,  distinguished  pleader.  Happening  to  be 
obliged  \o  go  to  Dijon  about  a  cause  in  which  his  mother 
was  concerned,  he  amused  his  leisure  hours  in  visiting  thfe 
libraries  and  museums  with  which  Dijon  at  that  time 
abounded.  He  pleaded  that  cause,  however,  so  ably,  that 
the  marquis  de  la  Meilieraye  was  induced  to  intrust  him 
with  another  of  great  importance  which  had  brought  him 
to  Dijon,  and  our  young  advocate,  now  metamorphosed 
into  an  antiquary,  laid  out  the  fee  he  received  from  hifi( 

J  Diet.  Hist.-r-Foppen  Bibl.  Belg .— Sa*ii  Onomasticon. 


BAUDELOT.  1W 

noble  client,  in  the  purchase  of  a  cabinet  of  books,  medals, 
&c.  then  on  sale  at  Dijon.    With  this  he  returned  to  Paris, 
but  no  more  to  the  bar,  his  whole  attention  being  absorbed 
in  researches  on  the  remains  of  antiquity.     The  notions 
he  had  formed  on  this  subject  appeared  soon  in  his  prin* 
cipal  work  on  the  utility  of  travelling,  and  the  advantaged 
which  the  learned  derive  from  the  study  of  antiquities.     It 
wasentitled  " De Futility  des  Voyages,''  2  vols.  16.86, 12mo, 
often  reprinted,  and  the  edition  of  Rouen  in  1727  is  said 
to  be  the  best,  although,  according  to  Niceron,  not  the 
most  correct.     The  reputation  of  this,  work  brought  hinq( 
acquainted  with  the  most  eminent  antiquaries  of  England, 
Holland,  and  Germany,  and,  when  he  least  expected  such 
an  honour,  he  was  admitted  an  associate  of  the  academy 
of  the  Ricovrati  of  Padua,  and  was  generally  consulted  on 
all  subjects  of  antiquity  which  happened  to  be  the  object 
of  public  curiosity.     In  1698  he  printed  a  dissertation  oil 
Ptolomy  Auletes,  whose  head  he  discovered  on  an  ancient 
amethyst  hitherto  undescribed,  in  the  cabinet  of  the  duchess 
of  Orleans,  who  rewarded  him  by  the  appointment  of  keeper 
of  her  cabinet  of  medals.     In   1700,  he  wrote  a  letter  to 
Mr.  Lister  of  the  royal  society  of  London,  describing  art 
enormous  stone  found  in  the  body  of  a  horse.     He  after- 
wards published  separately,    or  in  the  literary  journals, 
various  memoirs  on  antique  medals,  and  in  1705  he  was 
chosen  a  member  of  the  academy  of  inscriptions  and  belles 
lettres.    This  honour  inspirited  his  labours,  and  he  became 
$  frequent  contributor  to  the  memoirs  of  the  academy. 
His  last  piece  is  entitled  "  Dissertation  sur  le  guerre  des 
Atheniens  contre  les  peuples  de  1'isle  Atlantique."     His 
health  now  began  to  decline,  although  for  some  time  it  was 
not  discovered  that  his  disorder  was  a  drppsy  of  the  chest, 
which  proved  fatal  June  27,  1722.    His  characteris  repre- 
sented by  all  his  biographers  as  being  truly  amiable.     He 
bequeathed  to  the  academy,  what  he  valued  most,,  his  books, 
medals,  bronzes,  and  antique  marbles.     Two  of  the  latter 
of  great  value,  which  were  brought  from  Constantinople 
by  M.  Nointal,  and  are  supposed  to  be  more  than  two  thou- 
sand years  old,  contain  the  names  of  the  Athenian  captains 
and  soldiers  who  were  killed,  in  one  year,  in  different  ex- 
peditions.    These  afterwards  became  the  property  of  3VT. 
Thevenot,  the  king's  librarian,  who  placed  them  at  his 
country-house  at  Issy.     Thevenot's  heirs,  who.  bad  little 
taste  for  antiquities,  were  about  to  have  sold  them  to  a 


17p  BAUDELO  T/ 

stone-cutter  for  common  purposes,  when  Baudelot  beard  of 
the  transaction,  and  immediately  went  in  pursuit  of  th« 
treasure.  Having  purchased  them,  he  had  them  placed  in 
a  carriage  of  which  he  never  lost  sight  until  they  were  de- 
posited in  a  house  which  he  then  occupied  in  the  faubourg 
of  St  Marceau,  and  when  he  removed  to  that  of  St,  Ger- 
main, he  conveyed  them  thither  with  the  same  care,  and 
placed  them  in  a  small  court.  Here,  however,  they  were 
not  quite  safe.  A  considerable  part  of  the  house  happened 
to  be  occupied  by  a  young  lady  who  had  no  taste  for  antU 
quities,  and  soon  discovered  that  these  marbles  were  aq 
incumbrance.  In  order  to  make  Baudelot  remove  them, 
she  pretended  to  hire  the  dustmen  to  take  them,  away. 
Baudelot,  returning  home  at  night,  was  told  of  this  project, 
and  although  it  was  then  late,  would  not  go  to  sleep  until  • 
be  bad  seen  them  deposited  in  his  apartment.  They  ar§ 
now  in  the  museum  of  antiquities  in  the  Louvre.1 

BAUDERON  (Bjuce),  a  French  physician,  born  af 
Parey  in  the  Charolais,  practised  at  Macon  for  several 
years,  where  he  died  in  1623,  aged  eighty-one.  He  if 
best  known  by  a  Pharmacopoeia,  published  under  the  title 
of  "  Paraphrase  sur  la  Pharmacop£e,"  which  was  long  a 
very  popular  work.  It  was  first  printed  at  Lyons  in  1588, 
and  reprinted  in  1596,  1603,  and?  1628,  8vo,  and  trans- 
lated into  Latin,  under  the  title  of  "  Pharmacopoeia  e  Gal- 
Jico  in  Latinum  versa  a  Philemone  Holland©,"  with  addi-» 
tions,  Loud.  1639,  fol.  and  Hague,  1640,  4 to,  and  often 
reprinted  in  this  form*  He.  published  also  "Praxis  Me- 
dica  in  duos  tractatus  distincta,"  Paris,  1620,  4to.  Haller 
calls  this  "  Praxis  de  febribus."  * 

BAUDIER  (Michael),  of  Languedoc,  historiographer 
of  France  under  Louis  XIIjL  was  one  of  the  most  fertile . 
and  heavy  writers  of  his  time,  but  we  have  no  particulars 
of  his  life.  He  left  behind  him  many  works  composed 
without  either  method  or  taste,  but  which  Abound  in  par- 
ticulars not  to  be  found  elsewhere.  1 .  "  Histoire  generate 
de  la  Religion  des  TifTcs,  avec  la  Vie  de  leur  prophgte  Ma- 
homet, et  des  iv  premiers  califes  ;"  also,  "  Le  Livre  et  la 
The*ologie  de  Mahomet,"  1636,  8vo,  a  work  translated 
from  the.  Arabic,  copied  by  those  who  wrote  after  him, 
though  they  have  not  vouchsafed  to  cite  him.     2.  "  His* 

l  Chaufepie.— Moreri. — Diet,  Hist  — .^axii  Onomasticon. 
■  DicU  Hist.— Manget  and  Haller.— CeiJ.  Diet. 


BAUD1ER.  171 

toire  du  Cardinal  d'Amboise,"  Paris,  1651,  in  Svo.  Sir* 
moad,  of  the  Academie  Fran^oise,  one  of  the  numerous 
flatterers  of  the  cardinal  de  Richelieu,  formed  the  design 
of  elevating  that  minister  at  the  expence  of  all  those  who 
had  gone  before  him.  He  began  by  attacking  d'Amboise, 
and  failed  not  to  sink  him  below  Richelieu.  Baudier,  by 
no  means  a  courtier,  avenged  his  memory,  and  eclipsed 
the  work  of  his  detractor.  3.  "  Histoire  du  Marechal  de 
Toiras,"  1644,  fol.  1666,  2  vols.  12mo;  a  curious  per- 
formance which  throws  considerable  light  on  the  reign  of 
Louis  XIII.  4.  "  The  Lives  of  the  Abb£  Suger,  and  of 
Cardinal  Ximenes,  &c."  The  facts  that  Baudier  relates  in, 
these  different  works  are  almost  always  absorbed  by  his  re- 
flections, which  have  neither  the  merit  of  precision  nor 
that  of  novelty  to  recommend  them.  Moreri  informs  us 
that  he  wrote  a  history  of  Margaret  of  Anjou,  queen  of 
Henry  VI.  of  England,  that  the  manuscript  was  in  the 
library  of  the  abbey  of  St.  Germain  des  Pres,  at  Paris, 
among  the  collection  of  M.  de  Coislin,  bishop  of  Metz ; 
and  that  this  history  was  translated  and  published  in  Eng- 
lish, without  any  acknowledgment  by  the  translator,  or  any 
notice  of  the  original  author.1 

BAUD! US  (Dominic),  professor  of  history  in  the  uni- 
versity of  Leyden,  was  born  at  Lisle,  April  8,  1561.  He 
began  bis  studies  at  Aix  laChapelle,  whether  his  parents, 
who  were  Protestants,  had  retired  during  the  tyranny  of 
the  duke  of  Alva.  He  w6nt  afterwards  to  Leyden  and 
Geneva,  where  he  studied  divinity :  after  residing  hem 
some  time,  he  returned  to  Ghent,  and  again  to  Leyden, 
where  he  applied  to  the  civil  law,  and  was  admitted  doctov 
of  law,  June  1585.  Soon  after,  he  accompanied  the  am- 
bassadors from  the  states  to  England,  and  during  his  resi- 
dence here  became  acquainted  with  several  persons  of  dis- 
tinction, particularly  the  famous  sir  Philip  Sidney. 

He  was  admitted  advocate  at  the  Hague,  the  5th  of  Ja~ 
nuary  1 587 ;  but  being  soon  tired  of  the  bar,  went  to  France, 
where  he  remained  ten  years,  and  was  much  esteemed* 
acquiring  both  friends  and  patrons.  Achilles  de  Harlai, 
first  president  of  the  parliament  of  Paris,  got  him  to  be  ad* 
mitted  advocate  of  the  parliament  of  Paris  in  K5$2.  In 
1602,  he  went  to  England  with  Christopher  de  Harlai,  the 
president's  son,  who  was  sent  ambassador  thither  by  Henry 

i  Moreri.— DioL  Hiit. 


H2  baud  i  us: 

the  Great;  and  the  same  year,  having  been  named  pro- 
fessor of  eloquence  at  Ley  den,  he  settled  in  that  univer- 
sity. He  read  lectures  on  history  after  the  death  of  Mo- 
rula, and  was  permitted  also  to  do  the  same  on  the  civil 
law.  In  1611,  the  states  conferred  upon  him  the  office  of 
historiographer-  in  conjunction  with  Meursius  ;  and  in  con* 
sequence  thereof  he  wrote  u  The  history  of  the  Truce." 
Baudius  is  an  elegant  prose-writer,  as  appears  from  his 
"  Letters,"  many  of  which  were  published  after  his  death. 
He  was  also  an  excellent  Latin  poet :  the  first  edition  of 
his  poems  was  printed  in  1587  ;  they  consist  of  verses  of 
all  the  different  measures :  he  published  separately  a  book 
of  iambics  in  1591,  dedicated  to  cardinal  Bourbon.  Some 
of  his  poems  he  dedicated  to  the  king  of  England;  others 
to  the  prince  of  Wales,  in  the  edition  of  1607,  and  went 
over  to  England  to  present  them,  where  great  respect  was 
paid  to  him  by  several  persons  of  rank  and  learning. 

Baudius  was  a  strenuous  advocate  for  a  truce  betwixt  the 
States  and  Spain :  two  orations  he  published  on  this  sub- 
ject, though  without  his  name,  had  almost  brought  htm 
into  serious  trouble,  as  prince  Maurice  was  made  to  be* 
lieve  he  was  affronted  in  them,  and  the  author  was  said  to 
have  been  bribed  by  the  French  ambassador  to  write  upon 
the  truce.  :  In  consequence  of  these  suspicions  he  wrote  to 
the  prince  and  his  secretary,  in  order  to  vindicate  himself^ 
and  laments  his  unhappy  fate  in  being  exposed  to  the  ma- 
lice of  so  many  slanderers,  who  put  wrong' interpretations 
on  his  words :  "  It  is  evident  (says  he)  that  through  the 
malignity  of  mankind,  nothing  can  be  expressed  so  cau- 
tiously by  men  of  any  character  and  reputation, .  but  it  may 
be  distorted  into  some  obnoxious  sense.  For  what  can  be 
more  absurd  than  the  conduct  of  those  men,  who  have  re- 
ported that  I  have  been  bribed  by  the  ambassador  Jeannin* 
to  give  him  empty  words  in  return  for  his  generosity  to 
me  ?  as  if  I,  an  obscure  doctor,  was  an  assistant  to  a  man 
of  the  greatest  experience  in  business."  Some  verses, 
which  he  wrote  in  praise  of  the  marquis  of  Spinola,  oc- 
casioned him  also  a  good  deal  of  trouble :  the  marquis 
came  to  Holland  before  any  thing  was  concluded  either 
of  the  peace  or  truce;  and  though  Baudius  had  printed 
the  poem,  yet  he  kept  the  copies  of  it,  till  it  might  be 
'  seen  more  evidently  upon  what  account  this  minister  came* 
and  gave  them  only  to  his  most  intimate  friends.     It  being 


BAUDIUS.  173 

known  however  that  the  poem  was  printed,  he  was  very 
near  being  banished  for  it. 

Baudius  was  a  man  of  considerable  learning,  and  wrote 
in  Latin  with  great  purity  and  elegance.  But  he  was  con- 
ceited and  ambitious  beyond  all  just  claims,  and  disgraced 
his  latter  years  by  intemperance,  and  vagrant  amours,  al- 
though a  married  man.  This  exposed  him  to  ridicule,  and 
injured  his  reputation  in  the  republic  of  letters.  He  died 
at  Leyden,  August  22,   1613. 

His  works  are:  1.  "  Oratio  in  Plinii  Panegyrtcum  ;,f 
Leyden,  1603,  4to,  2.  "  Poemata,"  ibid.  1607,  8vo.  often 
reprinted  ;  but  less  admired  than  his  letters.  3.  "  Oratio 
?d  Studiosos.  Leydenses,  ob  c&dem  commilitonis,  tumuU 
tuantes,"  ibid.  1609,  8vo,  a  very  elegant  address.  4. 
"  Monumentuoi  consecratum  Honori  et  Memoriae  Britan* 
niarum  principis^  Henrici  Frederici,"  ibid.  1612,  4to.  5, 
"  De  Induciis  Belli  Belgici,"  ibid.  1613,  4to;  1617,  Hvo. 
6.  "  Epistolae,"  ibid.  1615,  24mo,  and  often  reprinted; 
certainly  the  most  entertaining  of  his  works,  and  a  very 
faithful  picture  of  his  character.  This  work,  to  be  found 
in  every  library,  every  catalogue,  and  almost  every  stall, 
has  the  addition  of  the  whole  of  his  orations,  a  treatise  on 
Usury  and  a  short  life  and  portrait  prefixed. l 

BAUDOT  de  Juilli  (Nicholas),  born  at  Vendome  in 
1678,  was  the  son  of  a  collector  of  excise,  settled  at  Sarlat, 
where  he  became  sub-delegate  of  the  intendant.  The 
functions  of  this  office  and  the  charms  of  literature  filled 
up  the.  course  of  his  long  life,  which  terminated  in  1759, 
at  the  age  of  81.  We  have  several  historical  works  by  him, 
written  with  method  and  ingenuity.  1.  "L'Histoire  de 
Catherine  de  France,  reine  d'Angieterre,"  which  he  pub- 
lished in  1696.  Though  the  whole  of  this  be  true  in  re-, 
gard  to  the  principal  events,  the  author  afterwards  allowed, 
what  may  indeed  be  easily  discovered,  that  it  is  very  much 
tinctured  with  romance*  2.  "  Germaine  de  Foix,"  an 
historical  novel,  1701.  3.  "  L'histoire  secrette  du  Con- 
ngtable  de  Bourbon,"  1706.  4.  "  La  Relation  historique 
et  galante  de  l'invasion  de  PEspagne  par  les  Maures," 
1722,  4  vols,  in  12mo.  These  three  works  are  nearly  of 
the  same  3pecies  with  the  first;  but  there  are  others  by 
him  of  more  regular  and  authentic  composition,  as,  "l'His-* 

1  Geo.  Diet.— Freheyri  Theatrum. — Foppcn  Bibl.  Belg. — "  Must.  Holland, 
et  Westfrisiae  ordinam  Alma  Academia  Leidensis,"  1614,  4to.  p.  209.— JJlount't 
Centura.-— Saxii  Onomasticon* 


174         r  BAUDOT. 

toire  de  la  conqu£te  d'Angleterre  par  Guillapme  due  de 
Normandie;"  1701,  in  1 2 mo;  "  L'Histoire  de  Philippe 
Auguste,"  1702,  2  vols.  12mo ;  and  that  of  "  Charles  VII." 
1697,  2  vols.  12mo*  Its  principal  merit  lies  in  the  method 
and  style,  as  the  author  consulted  nothing  but  printed4 
books.  We  have  likewise  by  him,  u  L'Histoire  de*  hom- 
ines illustres,"  extracted  from  Brantome ;  u  L'Histoire  de 
la  vie  et  du  regne  de  Charles  VI."  1755,  in  9  vols.  12mo» 
"  L'Histoire  du  regne  de  Louis  XL"  1756,  6  vols.  I2mo. 
"  L'Histoiredes  revolutions  de  Naples/'  1757, 4  vols.  12mo. 
These  three  last  works  appeared  under  the  name  of  Mad. 
de  Lussan,  who,  as  will  be  noticed  in  her  article,  shared 
the  profits  with  him.  His  general  style  is  easy,  perhaps* 
approaching  to  negligence,  and  in  the  hurry  of  so  much 
compilation,  we  cannot  wonder  that  there  are  inaccuracies 
in  facts,  or  at  least,  in  dates.  * 

BAUDOUIN  (Benedict),  a  divine  of  Amiens,  the  place 
of  his  birth,  acquired  the  notice  of  the  learned  by  his  dis- 
sertation "  De  la  chaussure  des   Anciens,"  published  in 
1615,  under  the  title  of  *'  Calceus  antiquus  et  mysticus," 
8vo.     This  work  was  the  occasion  of  the  false  notion  that 
he  was  the  son  of  a  shoemaker,  and  had  followed  the  trade 
himself,  to  which  he  intended  to  do  honour  by  this  publi- 
cation.    Such  is  the  brief  notice  of  this  author  in  the  last 
edition  of  this  Dictionary.     It  is  necessary,  however,  to  add 
that  he  was  esteemed  a  man  of  learning  in  his  day,  was 
principal  of  the  college  of  Troyes ;  and  on  his  return  to 
Amiens,  accepted  the  charge  of  master  of  the  Hotel-Dieu, 
and  died  here  Nov.  1632.     Whether  he  was  the  son  of  a 
shoemaker,  and  bred  to  that  business  himself,  seems  doubt- 
ful.    The  Diet.  Hist,  asserts  it  on  the  authority  of  Daire 
ki  his  "  Hist.  Litt.  de  la  ville  d' Amiens,"  p.  161.     The 
continuator  of  Moreri  contradicts  it,  on  the  authority  of 
La  Morliere  in  his  "  Antiquitgs  de  la  ville  df  Amiens,"  and 
informs  us  that  the  "  Calceus  antiquus"  was  a  work  com- 
piled by  the  author  as  an  exercise  on  a  curious  question  in 
ancient  manners  and  dress.     From  la  Morliere,  we  learn 
also  that  Baudouin  translated  Seneca's  tragedies  into  French 
verse,  which  translation  was  published  at  Troyes  in  1629.* 
BAUDOUIN  (Francis),  in  Latin  Bauhhnus,  a  famous 
civilian,  was  born  at  Arras  the  first  of  January,  1580.     He 
studied  for  six  years  in  the  university  of  Louvain,  after 

1  Diet.  Hist— Moreri.  »  Ibid, 


BAUDOUIN.  US 

which  he  was  some  time  at  the  court  of  Charles  V;  with 
the  marquis  de  Bergue,  and  then  he  went  to  France, 
where  he  gained  the  friendship  of  the  most  learned  men, 
and  among  others  of  Charles  du  Moulin,  at  whose  house 
he  lodged*  The  curiosity  of  knowing  the  most  famous 
ministers  induced  him  to  travel  into  Germany ;  where  he 
became  acquainted  with  Calvin  at  Geneva,  Bucer  at  Stras- 
burgh,  and  other*  of  the  reformed  clergy.  On  his  return 
to  Paris  he  was  invited  to  a  professorship  of  civil  law  at 
Bourges,  which  office  he  filled  for  seven  years  with  repu- 
tation enough  to  alarm  the  jealousy  of  his  colleague  Dua- 
renus,  and  then  went  to  Tubing,  where  he  likewise  intended 
to  have  taught  civil  law ;  but  hearing  that  Du  Moulin  de- 
signed to  return  to  that  university,  he  remained  at  Stras- 
burgh,  and  gave  lectures  for  about  a  year.  Thence  he 
went  to  Heidelberg,  and  was  professor  of  civil  law  and 
history  near  five  years,  until  he  was  sent  for  by  Anthony 
of  Bourbon,  king  of  N&varre,  who  made  him  preceptor  to 
bis  natural  son.  About  this  time  an  idea  was  entertained 
of  reconciling  the  Romish  and  Protestant  churches,  and 
Baudouin  was  recommended  to  the  king  of  Navarre,  as 
likely  to  promote  such  an  attempt,  which  however  did  not 
succeed,  and  only  served  to  involve  Baudouin  in  disputes 
with  the  reformers,  who  saw  at  once  the  impracticability 
of  the  scheme,  without  injuring  the  reformation  already 
successfully  begun.  Baudouin  carried  his  pupil  to  Trent, 
but  on  the  king  of  Navarre's  death,  returned  to  France 
with  him,  and  found  his  estate  and  library  pillaged. 
-  At  this  time,  his  old  friend  the  niarquis  de  Bergue,  and 
several  other  lords  of  the  low-countries,  engaged  Maxi- 
milian de  Bergue,  archbishop  of  Cambray,  to  procure  Bau- 
douin the  professorship  of  civil  law,  intending  to  make  use 
of  his  advice  in  affairs  of  state  and  religion  ;  for  they  knew 
that  he  was  of  opinion,  that  the  laws  against  sectaries  ought 
to  be  moderated.  In  consequence  of  this  we  find  him 
next,  .professor  of  civil  law  in  the  university  of  Doway. 
He  was  very  civilly  received  by  the  duke  of  Alva,  who 
was  then  preparing  his  cruel  proceedings  for  St.  Bartholo? 
mew  day ;  but,  as  he  was  afraid  of  being  chosen  one  of  the 
Judges  of  those  persons,  whom  they  designed  to  put  to 
death,  he  desired  leave  of  absence  under  pretence  of  fetch- 
ing his  wife  and  his  library  thither ;  and  having  obtained, 
it,  he  returned  to  Paris,  where  he  read  public  lectures  upon 
several  passages  of  the  Pandects  with  the  applause  of  a 


176  B  A  U  D  O  V  1  •  M, 

large  audience*  He  accepted  the  professorship  of  eivil 
law,  which  was  offered  him  by  the  university  of  Bezangon; 
but  understanding  upon  his  going  thither  that  the  empe- 
ror had  prohibited  that  university  from  erecting  this  pro- 
fessorship, he  refused  to  read  any  lectures*  though  he  was 
solicited  to  it.  He  then  returned  to  Paris,  and  agreeably 
to  the  advice  of  Philip  de  Hurault,  which  was  to  teach 
civil  law  in  the  university  of  Angers*  he  went  thither, 
where  he  continued  his  lectures  for  four  years,  till  the  duke 
of  Anjou,  who  was  proclaimed  king  of  Poland,  sent  for 
him  to  Paris  at  the  time  when  the  embassy  from  Poland 
was  received  there.  He  was  designed  for  the  professor- 
ship of  civil  law  in  the  university  of  Cracow;  and  it  is 
thought  he  would  have  attended  the  new  kiug  into  that 
country,  if  death  had  not  prevented  him.  He  died  in  the 
college  of  Arras,  at  Paris,  Oct.  24,  1573*  Baudouin  ap- 
pears to  have  been  of  unsettled  principles  in  religion.  Af- 
fecting to  be  displeased  with  some  things  in  popery,  Cal- 
vinism, and  Lutheran  ism,  he  allowed  his  mind  to  dwell  on 
the  hopes  of  forming  a  new  sect  out  of  them  all.  He  was, 
however,  a  man  of  extensive  learning  and  commanding 
eloquence,  and  often  employed  in  political  negociacions* 
in  the  conduct  of  which  he  gave  much  satisfaction,  yet  it 
is  supposed  that  he  did  not  die  rich,  and  it  is  certain  that 
he  never  had  any  great  preferments. 

His  principal  works,  written  in  a  pure  style,  are*  1* 
"  Leges  de  re  Rustica,  et  Novella  Constitutio  prima,"  &c. 
Louvain,  1542,  4to;  Basil,  1543.  2.  "  Prolegomena  sea 
prefata  de  jure  civili,"  Paris,  1545,  4to.  3.  "  Commen- 
tarii  in  libros  quatuor  instituti  juris  civilis,"  Paris,  1546, 
folio;  reprinted  1582,  1584.  4.  "  Juris  Civilis  Cateche- 
sis,"  Basil,  1557,  8vo.  5.  "  Disputationes  dpsa  de  jure 
civili*  cum  Papiniani  vita,"  Heidelberg,  1561,  8vo.  6. 
"  Note  ad  libros  I.  et  II.  Digestorjim,"  Basil,  1557,  8vo, 
with  many  other  works  on  different  parts  of  civil  law.  7. 
V  De  Institutione  Historic  Universee,"  Paris,  1551,  4to. 
8.  "  Historia  Carthaginensis  collationis,"  relative  to  the 
ancient  controversy  between  the  Catholics  and  the  Dona- 
tists,  ibid.  1566,  8vo.  9.  An  edition  of  "  Optatus  de 
schismate Donatistarum,"  &c. ib.  1569,  8vo.  10.  "De  Le- 
gatione  Polonica,  oratio,"  ib.  1573,  4 to.  11.  "  Apologia 
triplex  ad  versus  Joannem  Calvinum  ac  Theodorum  Bezam," 
1562,   1564,  8vo,  &C.1 

1  <3en.  Diet. — Moreri.— Dupra.«~Foppen  BibL  Bdff.*— Sax.  in  Baldainixi.— * 
Niceron,  vol.  XXVIII. 


B'AUDOU  IN.  177 

BAUDOUIN  (John),  a  member  of  the  French  acade- 
my, was  a  native  of  Pradelle  in  Vivarais,  where  he  was 
born  in  1590.  In  his  youth  he  was  a  considerable  travel- 
ler, but  afterwards  settled  for  the  rest  of  his  life  at  Paris, 
where  he  was  reader  to  queen  Margaret.  He  made  trans- 
lations from  Tacitus,  Suetonius,  Lucian,  Sallust,  Dion  Cas- 
sius;  Tasso,  and  many  other  established  writers,  but  which 
contributed  little  to  his  fame.  When  hard  pressed  by  his 
employers,  he  contented  himself  with  retouching  former 
translations,  without  looking  into  the  originals.  He  also 
wrote  a  "  History  of  Malta,"  1659,  2  vols,  folio,  and  some 
novels  and  romances,  in  general  beneath  mediocrity.  His 
only  work  not  of  this  character,  is  his  collection  of  (€  Em- 
blems," with  moral  explanations,  Paris,  1638,  8vo.  3  vols,  a 
beautiful  book,  with  engravings  by  Briot.  His  "  Iconolo- 
gie"  is  also  in  request- with  collectors.  It  was  printed  at 
Paris,  1636,  folio,  and  1643,  4to.  Baudouin  died  at  Paris 
in  1650,  according  to  Moreri,  or  1656,  as  in  the  Diet. 
Hist1  '• 

BAUDRAND  (Michael  Anthony),  a  celebrated  French 
geographer,  was  born  at  Paris  the  28th  of  July,  1633.  His 
father,  Stephen  Baudrand,  was  first  deputy  of  the  procura- 
tor-general of  the  court  of  aids,  treasurer  of  France  for 
Montauban,  and  master  of  the  requests  of  his  royal  high- 
ness Gaston  of  France,  and  his  mother's  name  was  Frances 
Caule.  He  began  his  studies  in  the  year  1640.  His  in- 
clination for  geography  was  first  noticed  when  he  studied 
at  the  Jesuits  college  of  Clermont  under  father  Briet,  who 
was  famous  for  his  geography,  which  was  then  printing,  the 
proof  sheets  of  which  were  corrected  by  our  author^  After 
he  had  finished  his  course  of  philosophy  at  the  college  of 
Lisieufc  under  Mr.  Desperier,  cardinal  Antonio  Barberini 
took  him  as  his  secretary  at  Rome,  and  he  was  present  with 
Jbis  eminence  at  the  conclave,  in  which  pope  Alexander 
VII.  was  elected;  and  afterwards  at  that  in  which  Clement 
IX.  was  chosen  pope.  Upon  his  return  to  France,  he  ap- 
plied himself  to  the  revisal  of  Ferrarius's  Geographical  Dic- 
tionary, which  he  enlarged  by  one  half,  and  published  at 
Paris,  1671,  fol.  In  the  same  year  he  attended  the  mar- 
quis of  Dangeau,  who  was  employed  by  the  king  in  the 
management  of  his  affairs  in  Germany,  and  also  went  to 
England  with  the  duchess  of  York,  who  was  afterwards 

i  Diet.  Hist— Moreri. 

Vofc-  TV.       •  N  . 


1*8  BAUDRANO. 

ljueen  of  England.  His  travels  were  of  great  advantage  to  him 
in  furnishing  him  with  a  variety  of  observations  in  geography. 
He  returned  to  France  in  1677,  and  composed  his  geogra- 
phical dictionary  in  Latin.  In  1691  he  attended  the  cardinal 
of  Camus,  who  was  bishop  of  Grenoble,  to  Rome,  and  wenti 
with  him  into  the  conclave  on  the  27th  of  March,  where  he 
continued  three  months'and  a  half,  till  the  election  of  pope 
Innocent  XII.  on  July  12th,  the  same  year.  Upon  his  re- 
turn to  Paris  he  applied  himself  to  the  completing  of  his 
French  geographical  dictionary,  but  he  was  prevented  from 
publishing  it  by  his  death,  which  happened  at  Paris  the 
29th  of  May  1700.  He  had  been  prior  of  Rouvres  and 
Neuf-Marche\  He  left  all  his  books  and  papers  to  the  Be- 
nedictine monks  of  the  abbey  of  St.  Germain  des  Prez. 

His  geographical  dictionary  was  entitled  "  Geographia 
ordine  literarum  disposita,"  Paris,  1682,  2  vols.  fol.  That 
in  French  appeared  in  1705,  folio,  but  neither  of  them  ob- 
tained much  credit.  The  best  edition,  if  we  may  so  term 
it,  is  the  "  Dictionaire  Geographique  Universelle,"  taken 
from  Baudrand's  workj  by  Maty,  and  published  at  Amster- 
dam in  1701,  4to,  with  a  most  valuable  and  copious  index 
of  the  Latin  names  translated  into  the  modern. 

Baudrand's  other  works  are,  1.  "  Descriptio  Fluminum 
Galliae,  qua  Francia  est,  opera  Papyrii  Massoni,  cum  notis 
M.  Baudrand,"  Paris,  1685,  in  12mo.  He  employed  af- 
terwards two  years  in  composing  a  work,  which  is  not  yet 
published,  entitled,  2.  "  Geographia  Christiana,  sive  notitia 
Archiepiscopatuum,  et  Episcopatuum  totius  orbis,  quibus  k 
Pontifice  Romano  providetur  juxta  praesentem  ipsorum 
statum."  He  bad  given  a  sketch  of  this  design  at  the  end 
'  of  his  Latin  dictionary.  3.  "  La  Francia,"  1662,  in  folio, 
and  likewise  in  two  tables  in  folio,  1694.  This  is  a  map  of 
France,  which  he  made  for  the  Italians.  4.  **  Le  Princi- 
paute*  de  Catalogue  et  le  Comte  de  Roussillon,  suivant  les 
nouvelles  Observations ;"  a  map  in  two  sheets,  Paris, 
1693. l 

BAUHIN  (John),  the  first  of  a  family  of  men  of  learning 
and  fame,  was  born  at  Amiens,  Aug.  24,  1511,  and  educated 
in  the  profession  of  medicine  and  surgery.  In  his  eighteenth 
year  he  began  practice  as  a  surgeon,  and  acquired  such  re- 
putation as  to  be  frequently  consulted  by  persons  of  the 
first  rank ;  and  queen  Catherine  of  Navarre  bestowed  oi* 
him  the  title  of  her  physician.     His  connections  with  the 

1  Qen«  Diet— Moreri.— Saxii  Onomasticoa. 


B  A  U  H  I  N.  X79 

•"  new  heretics,"  as  Moreri  calls  the  Protestants,  induced 
hitn  to  adopt  their  opinions.  In  1532  he  went  to  England, 
we  are  not  told  why,  and  practised  there  for  three  years, 
after  which  he  returned  to  Paris,  and  married  ;  but  having 
avowed  his  principles  with  boldness,  and  afforded  assist- 
ance and  protection  to  those  of  the  reformed  religion,  he 
was  thrown  into  prison  in  the  reign  of  Francis  I.  and  con- 
demned to  be  burnt;  but  queen  Margaret,  who  was  sister 
to  that  prince*  obtained  his  pardon  and  release,  and  ap- 
pointed him  her  physician  and  surgeon  in  ordinary.  Some 
time  after,  not  thinking  himself  secure,  even  under  her 
protection,  he  went  to  Antwerp  and  practised  medicine, 
but  even  here  the  dread  of  the  Spanish  inquisition  obliged 
him  to  retire  to  Germany*  and  at  length  he  obtained  an 
asylum  at  Basil,  and  for  some  time  was  Corrector  of  the 
Froben  press.  He  then  resumed  his  profession,  and  was 
made  assessor,  and  afterwards  dean  of  the  faculty.  He 
died  in  1582,  leaving  two  sons,  the  subjects  of  the  follow- 
ing articles. l 

BAUH1N  (John),  his  eldest  son*  was  born  at  Basil  in 
1541,  took  his  doctor's  degree  iti  1562*  and  afterwards  be- 
came principal  physician  to  Frederick  duke  of  Wirtemberg. 
In  1561  he  attached  himself  to  the  celebrated  Gessner, 
under  whom  he  studied  botany  with  great  perseverance 
and  success.  The  principal  works  by  which  he  gained  a 
lasting  name  in  the  annals  of  that  and  other  sciences,  were 
his  1.  "  Memorabilis  historia  luporum  aliquot  rabido- 
tum,"  1591,  8vo.  2.  "  De  plantis  a  divis,  sanctisque  no- 
men  habentibus*"  Basil,  1591*  8vo.  3.  "  Vivitur  ingenio, 
caetera  mortis  erunt,"  the  inscription  of  a  work  on  insects 
and  joints,  but  which  has  no  other  title,  1592*  oblong  form. 
4.  "  De  plantis  absynthii  nomen  habentibus*"  Montbelliard, 
1593,  1599,  8vo.  5.  Historia  novi  et  admirabilis  fontis,  bal- 
neique  Bollensis,"  ib.  1598,  4to.  ,  6.  "  Historise  pi  ant  arum 
prodromus,"  Ebroduni  (Brinn)  1619,  4to.  7.  "  Historia 
plantarum  universalis,"  3  vols,  folio,  1650,  1 65 1.  This  edi- 
tion is  enriched  with  the  notes  of  Dominic  Chabfans,  a  physi- 
cian of  Geneva*  and  the  remarks  of  Robert  Moryson,  which 
he  first  published  in  his  "  Hortus  Blesensis,"  and  which,  it 
is  now  allowed,  were  unreasonably  severe.  8.  "  De  Aquis 
medicatis,  nova  methodus,  quatuor  libris  comprehensa," 
Wontbeliard,  1605,  1607,  1612,  4to.      Bauhin,  after  being 

I  Moreri. 

N2 


160  B  A  UHIN. 

*  physician  to  the  duke  of  Wirtemberg  for  forty  years,  da- 
ring which  he  resided  at  Montheliard,  died  there  in  1613.* 
BAUHIN  (Gaspard),  brother  of  the  preceding,  was 
born  at  Basil,  Jan.  17,  1560,  and  at  the  early  age  of  sixteen 
began  to  study  medicine.  In  1577  he  went  to  Padua, 
where  he  was  instructed  in  botany  and  anatomy,  and  after- 
wards visited  the  university  of  Montpellier,  and  the  most 
celebrated  schools  of  Germany.  On  his  return  to  Basil  in 
1580,  he  took  his  doctor's  degree,  and  was  appointed 
by  the  faculty  to  lecture  on  anatomy  and  botany.  In 
1582  he  was  elected  professor  of  Greek;  and  in  1588 
professor  of  anatomy  and  botany.  In  1596,  Frederick 
duke  of  Wirtemberg  gave  him  the  title  of  his  physi- 
cian, which  he  had  before  conferred  on  his  brother.  He 
was  also,  in  1614,  principal  city  physician,  and  in  the 
course  of  his  life  four  times  rector  of  the  university,  and 
eight  times  dean  of  the  faculty  of  medicine.  He  died  Dec. 
&,  1624,  after  establishing  a  very  high  reputation  for  his 
knowledge  in  botany  and  anatomy,  in  both  which  he  pub- 
lished some  valuable  works.  The  principal  were  his  repre- 
sentations of  plants,  and  especially  what  he  called  the  ex- 
hibition of  the  botanical  theatre  ("  Phytopinax,"  Basil, 
1596,  4to,  and  "  Pinax  Theatri  Botanici,"  ib.  1623,  4to), 
a  work  which  was  the  fruit  of  fourteen  years  collections 
.and labours,  and  served  much  to  facilitate  the  study  of  bo- 
tany, and  to  promote  its  knowledge.  Bauhin  was  not  the 
creator  of  a  system,  but  he  reformed  many  abuses  and  de- 
fects, especially  the  confusion  of  names.  He  collected  the 
synonymous  terms  of  six  thousand  plants,  which  various 
authors  had  capriciously  assigned  to  them.  This  prevented 
the  many  mistakes  which  till  then  had  been  made  l>y  bo- 
tanists, who  took  several  descript  plants  for  non-descripts, 
and  gave  them  few  names,  only  because  they  had  been  de- 
scribed too  much  and  too  variously.  Bauhin  himself  made 
several  mistakes  in  this  new  method,  which,  however,  con- 
sidering the  whole  extent  of  his  merit,  candour  would  over- 
look. After  his  time  botany  stood  still  for  some  years,  the 
learned  thinking  it  sufficient  if  they  knew  and  called  the 
plants  by  the  names  which  Bauhin  had  given  them.  Man- 
get  and  other  writers  have  given  a  large  list  of  Bauhin's 
other  works,  which  we  suspect  is  not  quite  correct,  some 
being  attributed  to  Gaspar  which  belong  to  John*  and  vic# 

1  Moreri.— Diet  HUt. 


B  A  U  H  I  tf.  181 

versa.  Other  branches  of  this  family  were  physicians  of 
eminence  in  their  time,  but  did  not  arrive  to  the  same  fame 
as  authors. x  , 

BAULDRI  (Paul),  surnamed  d'Iberville,  professor  of 
ecclesiastical  history  at  Utrecht,  was  born  at  Rouen  in 
1639.  His  father,  a  Protestant  and  a  man  of  opulence,  had 
him  educated  with  great  care.  He  was  first  instructed  in 
classical  learning  at  Quevilli,  a  village  near  Rouen,  where 
the  Protestants  had  a  college  and  church.  Thence  he 
went  to  Saumur,  where  ~  he  learned  Hebrew  under  Louis 
Cappel,  and  improved  his  knowledge  of  Latin  and  Greek 
under  Tanaquil  le  Fevre,  who  was  particularly  attached  to 
him,  corresponded  with  him  after  he  left  Saumur,  and  de- 
dicated to  him  one  of  his  works.  Bauldri  also  studied  di- 
vinity in  this  university,  and  afterwards  went  to  England, 
and  resided  some  years  at  Oxford,  passing  most  of  his  time 
in  the  Bodleian  library,  and  becoming  acquainted  with 
Henry  Juste),  the  king's  librarian,  and  Dr.  Fell,  bishop  of 
Oxford.  After  having  twice  visited  England,  he  returned 
to  his  own  country,  and  gave  himself  up  to  study,  enlarg- 
ing his  library  by  a  judicious  selection  of  valuable  books. 
He  brought  from  England  an  Arabian,  with  whom  he  stu- 
died that  language.  In  1682  he  married,  at  Rouen,  Magda- 
len Basnage,  the  daughter  of  Henry.  After  the  revocation 
of  the  edict  of  Nantz,  he  intended  to  have  taken  refuge  in 
England,  but  his  friends  and  admirers  in  Holland  invited 
him  thither,  and  by  their  interest  he  was,  in  1685,  appoint- 
ed professor  of  ecclesiastical  history  in  the  university  of 
Utrecht  In  1692  he  published,  1.  A  new  edition  of  Lac  - 
tantius  u  De  mortibus  persecutorum,"  with  learned  notes. 
He  published  also,  2.  A  new  edition  of  Furetiere's  a  Nou- 
velle  allegorique,  ou,  Histoire  des  derniers  troubles  arrives 
au  royaume  d'eloquence,"  Utrecht,  1703, 12mo.  3.  "  Cri* 
tical  remarks  on  the  book  of  Job,9'  inserted  in  Basnage' s 
memoirs  of  the  works  of  the  learned,  August  1696.  4.  A 
letter  on  the  same  subject,  July  1697,  and  some  other  dis- 
sertations in  the  literary  journals. .  The  states  of  Utrecht 
endeavoured  to  obtain  for  M.  Bauldri  the  restitution  of  his 
property  at  the  treaty  of  Ryswick,  but  did  not  succeed. 
He  died  at  Utrecht,  highly  esteemed,  Feb.  16,  1706,8 

« 

*  Gen.  Diet— Moreri.— Stocver'i  Life  of  Linnssus,  p.  61.— Mangel.  Bfty* 
-Script  Med.— Saxii  Ooomasticou. 
8  Moreri.— Saxii  Oaomasticon^ 


182  B  A  U  L  O  T. 

BAULOT,  or  BEAULIEU  (James),  a  celebrated  litho- 
tomist,  was  born  in  1651,  in  a  village  of  the  bailiwick  of 
Lons-le-Saunier  in  Franche  Comte,  of  very  poor  parents. 
He  quitted  them  early  in  life,  in  order  to  enter  into  a  regi- 
ment of  horse,  in  which  he  served  some  years,  and  made 
an  acquaintance  with  one  Pauloni,  an  empirical  surgeon, 
who  had  acquired  a  name   for  lithotomy.    After  having 
taken  lessons  under  this  person  for  five  or  six  years,  he  re- 
paired to  Provence.     There  he  put  on  a  kind  of  monastic 
habit,  but  unlike  any  worn  by  the  several  orders  of  monks, 
and  was  ever  afterwards  known  only  by  the  name  of  friar 
James.     In  this  garb  he  went  to  Languedoc,  then  to  Rous- 
sillon,  and  from  thence  through  the  different  provinces  of 
France.     He  at  length  appeared  at  Paris,  but  soon  quitted 
it  for  his  more  extensive  perambulations.     He  was  seen  at 
Geneva,  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  at  Amsterdam,  and  practised 
everywhere.     His  success  was  various,  but  his  method  was 
not  uniform,  and  anatomy  was  utterly  unknown  to  this  bold 
operator.     He  refused  to  take  any  care  of  his  patients  af- 
ter the  operation,  saying,  a  I  have  extracted  the  stone ; 
God  will  he?il  the  wound."     Being  afterwards  taught  by 
experience  that  dressings  and  regimen  were  necessary,  his 
treatments  were  constantly  more  successful.     He  was  in- 
disputably the  inventor  of  the  lateral  operation.     His  me- 
thod was  to  introduce  a  sound  through  the  urethra  into  the 
bladder  with  a  straight  history,  cut  upon  the  staff,  and  then 
he.  carried  his  incision  along  the  staff  into  the  bladder. 
-  He  then  introduced  the  forefinger  of  the  left  hand  into  the 
bladder,  searched  for  the  stone,  which,  having  withdrawn 
the  sound,  he  extracted  by  means  of  forceps.     Professor 
Rau  of  Holland  improved  upon  this  method,  which  after- 
wards suggested  to  our  countryman,  Cheselden,  the  lateral 
operation,  as  now,  with  a  few  alterations,  very  generally 
practised.     In  gratitude  for  the  numerous  cures  this  ope~ 
rator  had  performed  in  Amsterdam,  the  magistracy  of  that 
city  caused  his  portrait  to  be  engraved,  and  a  medal  to  be 
struck,  bearing  for  impress  his  bust.    After  having  appeared 
at  the  court  of  Vienna  and  at  that  of  Rome,   he  made 
choice  of  a  retreat  near  Besan^on,  where  he  died  in  1720, 
at  the  age  of  sixty- nine.     The  history  of  this  hermit  was 
written  by  M.  Vacher,  surgeon-major  of  the  king's  armies, 
and  printed  at  Besah^on,  in  1757,  12mo.1 

1  Diet.  Hilt 


B  E  A  U  M  E'.  18$ 

x  BEAUME'  (Antony),  an  eminent  French  chemist,  wag 
born  at  Senlis,  Feb.  26,  1728,  and  devoted  his  time  to  the 
study  of  pharmacy  and  chemistry.  In  1752  he  was  admit* 
ted  as  an  apothecary  at  Paris,  and  in  1775  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  royal  academy  of  sciences.  He  more  re- 
cently became  a,  member  of  the  National  Institute,  and 
died  at  Carrieres  near  Paris,  March  14,  1805.  Repub- 
lished, 1.  "  Plan  d'un  cours  de  Chimie  experimentale  et 
raisonn6e,"  Paris,  1757,  8vo.  Macquer,  the  celebrated 
phemist,  had  a  hand  in  this  work.  2.  "  Dissertation  sur 
TEther,"  ibid.  1757,  12mo.  3.  "  Elemens  de  Pharmacie 
theorique  et  pratique,"  ibid,  1762,  and  eight  editions  af- 
terwards.    4.   "  Manual  de  Chimie,"    ibid.    1763,    1765, 

1769,  12mo.  5.  "  Memoire  sur  les  argiles,.  ou,  recherches 
sur  la  nature  des  terres  les  plus  propres  a  V agriculture,  et 
sur  les  moyens  de  fertiliser  celles  qui  sont  steriles,"  ibid* 

1770,  8vo.  6.  "  Chimie  experimentale  et  raisonnSe," 
ibid.  1773,  3  vols.  8vo.  This  extends  only  to  the  mineral 
kingdom,  * 

BAUME  (James  Francis  de  la),  canon  of  the  collegiate 
church  of  St.  Agricola  d' Avignon,  was  born  at  Carpentras 
in  the  Comtat  Venaissin,  in  1,705.  His  passion  for  the 
belles-lettres  attracted  him  to  Paris,  and  after  having  made 
some  stay  there,  he  published  a  pamphlet  entitled  "  Eloge 
de  la  Paix,"  dedicated  to  the  academic  Franchise;  it  is  in 
the  form  of  a  discourse,  an  ode,  and  an  epopea,  but  has 
little  merit  in  any  of  these  styles.  This  did  not,  however, 
prevent  him  from  meditating  $  work  of  greater  length. 
He  carried  the  idea  of  his  design  with  him  into  his  pro- 
vince, and  there  he  completed  it.  • '  The<£hristiade,  or 
Paradise  regained,"  which  is  here  meant,  occasioned  its 
author  a  second  jpurney  to  Paris,  where  his  poem  was 
.printed,  in  1753,  6  vols.  12 mo.  The  work,  well  executed 
as  to  the  typographical  p^rt,  is  written  in  a  pompous,  af- 
fected, and  often  ridiculous  style,  and  the  sacred  subject 
was  so  much  burlesqued,  that  it  was  condemned  by  the 
parliament  of  Paris,  and  the  author  fined.  He  died  at 
Paris  in  1757.  He  wrote  besides  several  small  pieces,  as 
the  "  Saturnales  Fran§oises,"  1736,  2  vols.  12mo,  and  he 
worked  for  upwards  of  ten  years  on  the  "  Courier  d'Avigr 
non."  He  was  a  man  of  a  warm  imagination,  but  void 
Jboth  of  taste  and  judgment.  * 

*  Diet.  HUt  *  Ib|+ 


184  B  A  U  M  GAR  TEN. 

BAUMGARTEN  (Alexander  Theophilus),  a  philo- 
sopher of  the  German  school,  was  bom  at  Berlin,  June  17, 
1714.  He  studied  divinity  at  Halle,  at  a  time  when  it  was" 
a  crime  to  read  the  writings  of  the  celebrated  Wolff,  but 
these  he  perused  with  avidity,  and  cultivated  the  friendship! 
of  their  author.  Mathematics  became  afterwards  his  fa- 
vourite study,  and  he  conceived  at  the  same  time  the  idea 
of  elevating  the  belles-lettres  to  a  rank  among  the  sciences,- 
and  the  science  according  to  which  he  explained  his  prin- 
ciples on  this  subject,  he  called  ^Esthetics.  At  Halle,  he 
was  professor  of  logic,  metaphysics,  the  law  of  nature  and 
moral  philosophy.  He  died  at  Francfort  on  the  Oder, 
May  26,  J  762.  His  principal  works  are  :  1.  "  Disputatio 
de  nonnullis  ad  poema  pertinentibus,"  Halle,  1735,  4to, 
in  which  he  discloses  the  principles  of  his  Esthetics. 
52.  "  Metaphysica,"  Halle,  1739,  1743,  and  1763,  8vo, 
a  work  highly  praised  by  his  countrymen.  3.  "  Etica 
philosophica,"  ibid.  1740,  1751^1762.  4.  "  iEsthetica," 
Francfort,  1750,  1758,  2  vols.  8vo,  but  not  completed; 
5.  "  Initia  philosophise  practical  primae,'*  ibid.  1760,  8vo. 
His  brother  Siegmond,  was  a  Lutheran  divine,  and  a  most 
voluminous  writer.  He  died  in  1757.  One  of  the  best  of 
his  works  which  we  have  seen,  is  a  supplement  to  the  Eng- 
lish Universal  History,  printed  about  1760. i 

BAUNE  (James  de  la),  a  learned  French  Jesuit,  was 
born  at  Paris,  April  15,  1649,  and  entered  the  society  in 
1665.  He  had,  taught  grammar  and  the  classics  in  the 
Jesuits  college  of  Paris,  for  five  years,  and  had  completed 
his  theological  studies,  when  about 'the  end  of  1677  he 
was  appointed  tutor  to  the  duke  of  Bourbon,  and  obliged 
to  return  to  his  studies  again  for  five  years,  after  which  he 
was  appointed  professor  of  rhetoric,  and  filled  that  office 
for  the  same  number  of  years.  As  soon  as  he  found  leisure 
from  these  engagements,  he  began  to  collect  the  works 
of  father  Sirmond,  which  he  published  in  1696,  in  5 
vols.  fol.  at  Paris,  and  which  were  afterwards  reprinted  at 
Venice,  in  1729.  He  also  intended  to  have  collected  the 
works  of  the  celebrated  Petau,  but  the  weakness  of  his 
sight  began  now  to  interrupt  his  literary  labours,  and  he 
Jwas  at  the  same  time  ordered  to  Rouen  as  rector  of  the 
college.  Three  years  after  he  returned  to  Paris,  whence 
he  went  to  Rome,  to  be  present  at  the  general  assembly 

»  Diet.  Hitt. 


B  A  U  N  E.  18* 

of  the  society.  The  rest  of  his  life  he  passed  partly  at 
Rouen,  and  partly  at  Paris,  where  he  died  Oct.  21,  1725* 
Besides  the  edition  of  the  works  of  Sirmond,  we  owe  to 
his  labours,    1.   "  Symbola    Heroica,"    Paris,   1672,  4to: 

2.  "In  funere  Gabrielis  Cossartii  carmen,"  Paris,  1675,  4to. 

3.  "  Panegyrici  veteres,  adusum  Delphini,"  ibid.  1676, 4to, 
which  Dr.  Clarke  says  is  one  of  the  scarcest  of  the  Delphiit 
editions;  it  was  reprinted  at  Amst.  1701,  8vo;  Venice, 
1725,  4to;  and  again  in  1728,  with  the  notes  of  Schwartz. 
There  is  also  a  London  edit.  1716,  8vo,  which,  contains 
only  the  panegyric  of  Pliny,  with  the  notes  of  de  la  Baune, 
Lipsius,  Baudius,  &c.  4.  "  Ludus  poeticus  in  recentem 
cometam,"  Paris,  1681,  4to.  5.  "  Ludovico  duci  Bor* 
bonio,  Oratio,"  ibid.  1682,  12mo.  6.  "  Ferdinando  de 
Furstenberg,  pro  fundata  missione  Sinensi,  gratianim 
actio,"  ibid.  1683,  4to.  7.  "  In  obituth  ejusdem,  car** 
men,"  1684,  4to.  8.  i€  Ludovico  magno  liberalium  ar- 
tium  parenti  et  patrono,  panegyricus,"  ibid.  1684,  12mo. 
9.  "  Augustiss.  Galliarum  senatui  panegyricus,"  ibid.  1685, 
4to.  10.  "  Laudatio  funebris  Ludovici  Borbonii  principis 
Condaei,"  ibid.  1687,  4to.  Many  of  his  Latin  poems  were 
inserted  in  a  collection  entitled  "  Collegii  Parisiensis  so* 
ciet.  Jesu,  festi  plausus  ad  nuptias  Ludovici  Galliarum 
Delphini,  et  Mariae-Aunse-ChristianjB-Victorice  Bavarae," 
ibid.  1680,  fol.1 

BAUR  (John  William),  an  eminent  painter,  was  born 
at  Strasburg,  in  1610,  and  was  a  disciple  of  Frederick 
Brendel.  He  had  an  enlarged  capacity,  but  the  livelines* 
of  his  imagination  hindered  htm  from  studying  nature,  or 
the  antique,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  divest  himself  of  his  Ger- 
man taste,  though  he  went  to  Rome  to  imgrove  himself  in 
the  art.  In  Italy,  he  applied  himself  entirely  to  archi- 
tecture, as  far  as  it  might  contribute  to  the  enrichment  of 
his  landscapes,  which  were  his  favourite  subjects ;  and  for 
his  scenes  and  situations  he  studied  after  the  rich  prospects 
about  Frascati  and  Tivoli,  which  could  afford  him  the  most 
delightful  sites,  views,  and  incidents.  -  He  was  fond  of  in- 
troducing into  his  designs,  battles,  marchings  of  the  army, 
skirmishes,  and  processions ;  but  although  he  resided  for 
a  considerable  length  of  time  in  and  about  Naples  and 
Rome,  he  never  arrived  at  a  grandeur  of  design ;  nor  could 
ever  express  the  naked  but  indifferently.     It  must,  how*- 

*  Moreri  from  a  MS.  of  Father  Oudin. 


18*  B  A  U  R. 

ever,  be  said  in  his  commendation,  that  his  pencil  was 
light,  bis  composition  good,  and  his  dispositions  emi- 
nently picturesque.  He  painted  with  great  success  in 
water-colours    on    vellum,    and     etched    the    Metamor- 

£  hoses  of  Ovid,  and  a  great  many  other  plates,  from 
is  own  designs;  his  works  were  completed  by  Mel- 
chior  Kussel,  to  the  amount  of  five  hundred  prints,,  in- 
cluding those  by  his  own  hand.  Of  his  engravings  from 
the  Metamorphoses,  which  are  generally  preferred  to  the 
rest,  and  consist  of  one  hundred  and  fifty,  Mr.  Strutt  says 
that  the  figures  which  are  introduced  are  generally  small, 
and  very  incorrect  in  the  drawing ;  the  back-grounds  are 
dark  and  heavy,  and  the  trees  want  that  lightness  and 
freedom  which  are  necessary  to  render  the  effect  agreeable* 
The  pieces  of  architecture1  which  he  is  very  fond  of  in- 
troducing into  his  designs,  appear  to  be  well  executed ; 
Mid  the  perspective  is  finely  preserved.  In  his  manner  of 
engraving  he  seems  in  some  degree  to  have  imitated  C al- 
lot ^  and  the  nearer  he  approaches  to  the  style  of  that 
master,  the  better  are  his  productions.  These  designs 
manifest  great  marks  of  a  superior  genius,  but  without  cul- 
tivation, or  the  advantage  of  a  refined  judgment  to  make 
a  proper  choice  of  the  most  beautiful  objects.  Argen- 
▼iiie  mentions  a  peculiarity  of  him,  that  when  at  work,  he 
might  be  heard  muttering  in  Spanish,  Italian,  or  French, 
as.  if  holding  a  conversation  with  the  persons  he  was  paint- 
ing, and  endeavouring  to  hit  the>r  characters,  gestures, 
and  habits.  About  1638,  he  fixed  his  residence  at  Vienna, 
at  the  invitation  of  the  emperor  Ferdinand  II L  and  there 
be  married,  but  while  happy  in  his  family  and  in  the  pa* 
tronage  of  the  emperor,  he  was  attacked  by  an  illnesp 
which  proved  fatal  in  1640,  when  he  was  only  thirty  ye^rt 
of  age. * 

BAUSCH  (John  Laurence),  was  born  at  Schweinfurt, 
Sept.  3L0,  1 605  ;  his  father,  Leonard  Bausch,  a  physician 
in  that  place,  acquired  some  fame  about  the  beginning  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  by  his  commentary  on  two  of 
the  books  of  Hippocrates,  which  was  published  at  Madrid, 
1694,  fol.  His  son  was  early  inclined  to  his  father's,  pro- 
fession, and  after  studying  medicine  in  Germany,  went  to 
Italy,  and  lastly,  took  his  doctor's  degree  at  Altdorf,  in 
.1 630.     He  practised  afterwards  at  Schweinfurt,  and  ea*» 

*  Pilkington.— Strutt— D>Argenyffle,  vol.  III. 


B  AUS^CH.  1M 

ployed  all  bis  leisure  time  in  botanical  and  chemical  par* 
suits,  accumulating  a  valuable  library,  and  a  rich  museum 
of  natural  history.  In  1652  he  founded  a  society  called 
"  Collegium  Curiosorum  naturae,"  of  which  he  was  the 
first  president.  He  died  at  Schweiofurt,  Nov.  17,  1665, 
He  was  the  author  of  1.  i€  Schediasmata  bina  curiosa  de 
lapide  haematite  et  oetite,"  Leipsic,  1665,  8vo,  with  a  dis- 
sertation on  the  blood  prefixed*  2.  "  Schediasma  curio- 
sum  de  unicorn u  fossili,"  Breslaw,  1666,  8vo.  3.  "  Scbe- 
diasnia  posthumum,  de  coeruleo  et  chryocolla,"  Jena, 
1668,  8vo.  l 

BAXTER  (Andrew),  a  very  ingenious  metaphysician 
and  natural  philosopher,  was  born  in  1686,  or  1687,  at  Qld 
Aberdeen,  in  Scotland,  of  which  city  his  father  was  a  mer- 
chant, and  educated  in  king's  college  there.  His  prin- 
cipal employment  was  that  of  a  private*  tutor  to  young  gen- 
tlemen ;  and  among  other  of  his  pupils  were  lord  Grey* 
lord  Blantyre,  and  Mr.  Hay  of  Drummelzier.  About 
1724,  he  married  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Mebane,  a  clergy- 
man in  the  shire  of  Berwick.  A  few  years  after  he  pub- 
lished in  4to,  "  An  Enquiry  into  the  nature  of  the  human 
Soul,  wherein  its  immateriality  is  evinced  from  the  prin- 
ciples of  reason  and  philosophy  ;"  without  date.  In  1741, 
he  went  abroad  with  Mr.  Hay,  and  resided  some  years  at 
Utrecht ;  having  there  also  lord  Blantyre  under  his  care. 
He  made  excursions  from  thence  into  Flanders,  France, 
and  Germany ;  his  wife  and  family  residing  in  the  mean 
•time  chiefly  at  Berwick  upon  Tweed.  He  returned  *» 
Scotland  in  1747,  and  resided  till  his  death  at  Whitting- 
ham,  in  the  shire  of  East  Lothian.  He  drew  up,  for  the 
use  of  his  pupils,  and  his  son,  a  piece  entitled  "  Mathot 
fiive,  Cosmotheoria  puerilis,  Dialogus.  In  quo  prima  ele- 
menta  de  mundi  ordine  et  ornatu  proponuntur,  &c." 
This  was  afterwards  greatly  enlarged,  and  published  in 
English,  in  two  volumes,  8vo.  -In  1750  was  published* 
"  An  Appendix  to  his  Enquiry  into  the  nature  of  the  hu- 
man Soul/'  wherein  he  endeavours  to  remove  some  diffi- 
culties, which  had  been  started  against  his  notions  of  the  ' 
*'  vis  inertiae"  of  matter,  by  Maclaurin,  in  his  "  Account 
of  Sir  Isaac  Newton's  Philosophical  Discoveries."  To 
this  piece  Mr.  Baxter  prefixed  a  dedication  to  Mr.  John 
Wilkes,  afterwards  £o  well  known  in  the  political  world, 

*  Freheri  Thegtrunv— Diet  Hist* 


'  18*  BAXTER, 

with  whom  he  had  commenced  an  acquaintance  abroad:, 
He  died  this  year,  April  the  23d,  after  suffering  for  some 
months  under  a  complication  of  disorders,  of  which  the 
gout  was  the  chief,  and  was  buried  in  the  family  vault  of 
Mr.  Hay,  at  Whittingham. 

The  learning  and  abilities  of  Mr.  Baxter  are  sufficiently- 
displayed  in  his  writings,  which,  however,  were  of  much 
more  note  in  the  literary  world  during  his  own  time,  than 
now.  He  was  very  studious,  and  sometimes  sat  up  whole 
nights  reading  and  writing.  His  temper  was  cheerful,  and 
in  his  manners,  he.  appeared  the  gentleman  as  well  as 
the  scholar,  but  in  conversation  he  was  modest,  and  not 
apt  to  make  much  shew  of  the  extensive  knowledge  of 
which  he  was  possessed-  In  the  discharge  of  the  several 
social  and  relative  duties  of  life,  his  conduct  was  exem- 
plary. He  had  the  most  reverential  sentiments  of  the 
Deity,  of  whose  presence  and  immediate  support  he  had 
always  a  strong  impression  upon  his  mind  ;  and  the  gene- 
ral tenour  of  his  life  appears  to  have  been  conformable. 
Mr.  Baxter  paid  a  strict  attention  to  oeconomy,  but  was 
not  parsimonious  in  his  expences.  It  is  known,  also,  that 
there  were  several  occasions,  on  which  he  acted  with  re- 
markable disinterestedness ;  and  so  far  was  he  from  court* 
ing  preferment,  that  he  has  repeatedly  declined  consider- 
able offers  of  that  kind  which  were  made  him,  if  he  would 
have  taken  orders  in  the  Church  of  England.  His  friends 
and  correspondents  were  numerous  and  respectable ;  and 
among  them  are  particularly  mentioned  Mr.  Pointz,  pre- 
ceptor to  the  late  duke  of  Cumberland,  and  Dr.  Warbur- 
ton,  bishop  of  Gloucester.  His  wife,  by  whom  he  had 
one  son  and  three  daughters,  all  of  whom  were  lately  liv- 
ing, survived  him  ten  years,  and  was  buried  in  the  church 
/  of  Linlithgow,  in  1760. 

Mr.  Baxter  left  many  manuscripts  behind  him :  but  the 
only  one  which  appears  to  have  received  his  last  correc- 
tions, and  to  be  prepared  for  the  press,  is  entitled  '  Histor, 
a  Dialogue ;  in  which  the  experiments  brought  by  foreign 
philosophers,  against  the  English  estimation  of  the  forces 
of  moving  bodies,  are  shewn  to  agree  exactly  with  and 
very  much  to  confirm  that  estimation.9  In  this  piece,  Mr. 
Leibnitz's  computation  is  particularly  considered  and  con- 
futed ;  and  an  Appendix  is  added,  concerning  the  contro- 
versy between  Dr.  Clarke  and  Mr.  Leibnitz.  Several  un- 
finished tracts,  political,  historical,  and  philosophical,  but 


BAXTER.  18| 

chiefly  the  latter,  were  also  lately  in  the  possession,  of  his 
family. 

In  1779,  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Duncan  of  South  Warmbo- 
fough,  published  "  The  evidence  of  reason  in  proof  of  the 
Immortality  of  the  Soul,  independent  on  the  ipore  abstruse 
inquiry  into  the  nature  of  matter  and  spirit.  Collected 
from  the  MSS.  of  Mr.  Baxter,"  London,  8vo. 

Bishop  Warburton  has  characterised  Mr.  Baxter's  trea- 
tise on  the  Soul,  as  "  containing  the  justest  and  most  precise 
notions  of  God  and  the  soul,  and  as  altogether  one  of.  the 
most  finished  of  its  kind,"  an  encomium  too  unqualified, 
although  it  certainly  discovers  great  metaphysical  acute* 
ness.  The  great  principle  on  which  Baxter  builds  his  rea- 
soning, is  the  vis  inertue  of  matter.  The  arguments  he 
hath  founded  upon  this  principle,  and  the  consequences 
he  hath  drawn  from  it,  have,  in  the  opinion  of  several  per- 
sons, been  carried  too  far.  Mr.  Hume  made  some  objec- 
tions to  Mr.  Baxter's  system,  though  without  naming  him, 
in  his  Enquiry  concerning  Human  Understanding.  It  is 
probable  that  Mr.  Baxter  did  not  think  Mr.  Hume  to  be 
enough  of  a  natural  philosopher  to  merit  particular  notice; 
or  he  might  not  have  seen  Mr.  Hume's  Philosophical  Es- 
says, which  were  first  published  only  two  years  before  our 
author's  death.  He  had  a  much  more  formidable  antago- 
nist in  Mr.  Colin  Maclaurin.  This  ingenious  gentleman, 
in  his  account  of  sir  Isaac  Newton's  philosophical  discove- 
ries, had  started  various  difficulties  with  regard  to  what 
had  been  urged  concerning  the  vis  inerti<e  of  matter ;  and 
it  was  to  remove  these  difficulties,  and  still  farther  to  con- 
firm his  own  principles,  that  Mr.  Baxter  wrote  the  Ap- 
pendix. 

In  the  second  volume  of  his  Enquiry,  Mr.  Baxter  has ' 
inserted  a  very  copious  Essay  on  the  Phenomenon  of 
Dreaming,  and  what  he  has  advanced  on  this  subject  ex- 
cited much  attention  at  the  time  of  its  first  publication. 
He  endeavoured  to  prove,  that  the  scenes  presented  to? the 
soul  in  sleep,  in  which  there  is  so  much  variety,  action, 
and  life,  nay  oftentimes  speech  and  reason,  cannot  be  the- 
effect  of  mechanism,  or  any  cause  working  mechanically : 
And  farther,  that  the  favlaafju*,  or  what  is  properly  called 
the  vision,  is  not  the  work  of  the  soul  itself.  His  conclu- 
sion was,  that  '  our  dreams  are  prompted  by  separate  im- 
material beings  :'  that  there  are  living  beings  existing  se- 
parate from  matter ;  that  they  act  in  that  state;  and  that 


/ 


19a  BAXTER. 

they  act  upon  the  matter  of  our  bodies,  and  prompt  dtrf 
sleeping  visions.  Some  observations  upon  this  subject* 
and  several  objections  to  Mr.  Baxter's  hypothesis,  may  b& 
found  in  Mr.  David  Fordyce's  *  Dialogues  concerning  Edu-> 
cation,'  vol.  II.  p.  223 — 257.  * 

BAXTER  (Richard)*  an  eminent  nonconformist  divine, 
was  born  Nov.  12,  1615,  at  Rowton,  near  High  Ercal,  in 
Shropshire.  He  was  unlucky  as  to  his  education,  by  fall- 
ing into  the  hands  of  ignorant  schoolmasters;  neither  had 
ke  the  advantage  of  an  academical  education,  his  pa- 
vents  having  accepted  of  a  proposal  of  putting  him  under 
Mr.  Wickstead,  chaplain  to  the  council  of  Ludlow :  but 
this  did  liot  answer  their  expectation  ;  Mr.  Wickstead  was 
not  a  scholar,  and  consequently  took  little  pains  with  his 
pupil ;  the  only  benefit  be  reaped  was  the  use  of  an  ex-* 
eellent  library,  with  which  he  endeavoured  to  supply  the? 
place  of  a  regular  education.  When  he  had  remained  in 
this  situation  about  a  year  and  a  half,  he  returned  to  his 
lather's,  but  immediately  after,  at  the  request  of  lord  New- 
port, he  taught  for  six  months  in  th6  free- school  of  Wrox-* 
cten 

In  163$,  Mr.  Wickstead  persuaded  him  to  lay  aside  hisr 
studies,  and  to  think  of  making  his  fortune  at  court.  Mr. 
Wickstead,  we  have  said,  was  not  a  scholar,  nor  certainly 
a  judge  of  character,  when  he  fancied  he  saw  the  materials 
of  a  courtier  in  Richard  Baxter's  mind.  Baxter,  however, 
who  probably  did.  not  know  what  a  couf  tier  Was,  came  to 
Whitehall,  and  was  recommended  to  sir  Henry  Herbert* 
jaofester  of  the  revels,  by  whom  he  was  very  kindly  received  5 
but,  in  the  space  of  a  month,  being  tired  of  a  court  life, 
he  returned  to  the  country,  where  he  resumed  his  studies, 
and  klr.  Richard  Foley  of  Stourbridge  got  him  appointed 
master  of  the  free-school  at  Dudley,  with  an  assistant  un- 
der him.  During  this  time  he  imbibed  many  of  those  sen- 
timents of  piety,  neither  steady,  nor  systematic,  which 
gave  a  peculiar  bias  to  his  future  life  and  conduct,  not 
only  towards  the  church,  but  towards  his  brethren,  the 
•nonconformists.  In  16$8,  he  applied  to  the  bishop  of 
Winchester  for  orders,  which  he  received,  having  at  that 
time  no  scruples  about  conformity  to  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. The  "  Et  caetera"  oath  was  what  first  induced  him 
to  examine  into  this  point.     It  was  framed  by  the  convo«* 

1  Biog.  BriUnuica.— Tytler'i  Life  of  Karnes,  vol  I.  p.  23> 


BAXTER,  191 

cation  then  sitting,  and  all  persons  were  thereby  enjoined 
to  swear,  "  That  they  would  never  consent  to  the  altera* 
tion  of  the  present  government  of  the  church  by  archbi- 
shops, bishops,  deans,  archdeacons,  &c."  There  were 
many  persons  who  thought  it  hard  to  swear  to  the  continu- 
ance of  a  church  government  which  they  disliked;  and  yet 
they  would  have  concealed  their  thoughts,  had  not  this 
oath,  imposed  under  the  penalty  of  expulsion,  compelled 
them  to  speak.  Others  complained  of  the  "  Et  caetera,** 
which  they  said  contained  they  knew  not  what  Mr.  Bax- 
ter studied  the  best  books  he  could  find  upon  this  subject, 
the  consequence  of  which  was,  that  he  utterly  disliked 
the  oath. 

Before  this,  however,  he  seems  to  have  been  in  some 
measure,  prepared  for  dissent,  and  Mr.  Calamy  has  given 
us  an  account  of  the  means  by  which  he  first  came  to  alter 
his  opinions,  which  is  too  characteristic  of  the  man  to  be 
omitted.  "  Being  settled  at  Dudley,  he  fell  into  the  ac-» 
quaintance  of  several  nonconformists,  >  whom  though  he 
judged  severe  and  splenetic,  yet  he  found  to  be  both  godly 
and  honest  men.  They  supplied  him  with  several  writings 
pn  their  own  side,  and  amongst  the  rest,  with  Ames's  Fresh 
Suit  against  Ceremonies,  which  he  read  oyer  very  dis- 
tinctly, comparing  it  with  Dr.  Burgess's  Rejbynder.  And, 
upon  the  whole,  he  at  that  time  came  to  these  conclusions; 
Kneeling  he  thought  lawful,  and  all  mere  circumstances 
determined  by  the  magistrate,  which  God  in  nature  or 
scripture  hath  determined  on  only  in  the  general.  The 
surplice  he  more  doubted  of,  but  was  inclined  to  think  it 
lawful :  and  though  he  intended  to  forbear  it  till  under  ne- 
cessity, yet  he  could  not  see  how  he  could  have  justified 
the  forsaking  his  ministry  merely  on  that  account,  though 
he  never  actually  wore  it.  About  the  ring  in  marriage  he 
had  no  scruple.  The  cross  in  baptism  he  thought  Dr. 
Ames  had  proved  unlawful ;  and  though  he  was  not  with- 
out some  doubting  in  the  point,  yet  because  he  most  in- 
clined to  judge  it  unlawful,  he  never  once  used  it.  A 
Form  of  Prayer  and  Liturgy  he  judged  to  be  lawful,  and 
in  some  cases  lawfully  imposed.  The  English  Liturgy  in 
particular  he  judged  to  have  much  disorder  and  defective -* 
ness  in  it,  but  nothing  which  should  make  the  use  of  it  in 
the  ordinary  public  worship  to  be  unlawful  to  them  who 
could  not  do  better.  He  sought  for  discipline  in  the 
Church,  and  saw  the  sad  effects  of  its  neglect ;  but  he  was 


.IM  BAXTER. 

not  then  so  sensible  as  afterwards,  that  the  very  frame  of 
diocesan  prelacy  excluded  it,  but  thought  it  had  been 
chargeable  only  on  the  personal  neglects  of  the  bishops. 
Subscription  he  began  to  think  unlawful,  and  repented  his 
rashness  in  yielding  to  it  so  hastily.  For  though  he  could 
use  the  Common -prayer,  and  was  not  yet  against  dio- 
cesans, yet  to  subscribe  ex  animo,  that  there  is  nothing  in 
the  three  books  contrary  to  the  word  of  God,  was  that  which 
he  durst  not  do,  had  it  been  to  be  done  again.  So  that  sub- 
scription and  the  cross  in  baptism,  and  the  promiscuous 
giving  the  Lord's  supper  to  all  comers,  though  ever  so 
unqualified,  if  they  were  not  excommunicated  by  a  bishop 
or  chancellor  who  knows  nothing  of  them,  were  the  only 
things  in  which  as  yet  he  inclined  to  nonconformity,  and 
even  in  these  he  kept  his  thoughts  to  himself.  He  con- 
tinued to  argue  with  the  nonconformists,  about  the  points 
they  differed  in,  and  particularly  kneeling  at  the  Sacra- 
ment, about  which  he  had  a  controversy  with  some  of 
them,  which  they  did  not  think  it  proper  to  continue  any 
farther.  He  also,  with  equal  candour  and  spirit,  reproved, 
them  for  the  bitterness  of  their  language  against  the  bi- 
shops and  churchmen,  and  exhorted  them  to  patience  and 
charity." 

.  In  1640,  he  was  invited  to  be  minister  at  Kidderminster, 
which  he  accepted ;  and  had  been  here  two  years  when  the 
civil  war  broke  out.  He  was  a  favourer  of  the  parliament, 
which  exposed  him  to  some  inconveniences,  and  obliged 
him  to  retire  to  Gloucester ;  but  being  strongly  solicited,. 
he  returned  to  Kidderminster.  However,  not  finding  him- 
self safe  in  this  place,  he  again  quitted  it,  and  took  up  his 
residence  at  Coventry,  where  he  lived  in  perfect  quiet, 
preaching  once  every  Sunday  to  the  garrison,  and  once  to 
the  town's  people,  and  contending  warmly  against  the 
Anabaptists.  After  Naseby  fight,  he  was  appointed  chap- 
Jain  to  colonel  Whalley's  regiment,  and  was  present  at 
several  sieges,  but  was  never  in  any  engagement,  although 
a  story  was  afterwards  raised  that  he  had  killed  a  man  in 
cool  blood,  and  robbed  him  of  a  medal.  This  Was  first 
told  by  Dr.  Boreman  of  Trinity  college,  Cambridge,  and 
became  very  current  until  Mr.  Baxter  refuted  it  in  his 
u  Catholic  Communion,"  1684.  In  1647  he  was  obliged 
to  leave  the  army*  by  a  sudden  illness,  and  retired  to-  sir 
Thomas  Rouse's,  where  he  continued  a  long  time  iri  a  lan- 
guishing state  of  health.    He  afterwards  returned  to  Kid* 


BAXTER.  193 

derminster,  where  he  continued  to  preach  with  great  suc- 
cess.    He  is  said  to  have  impeded,  as  far'  as  was  in  his 
power,  the  taking  of  the  covenant,  and  vyhat  was  called 
the  engagement,  and  both  spoke  and  wrote  against  the 
army  marching  to  Scotland  to  oppose  Charles  II.     And 
when   Cromwell    gained   the  superiority,  Mr.  Baxter  ex- 
pressed his  dissatisfaction  to  his  measures,  but  did  not  think 
proper  to  preach  against  him  from  the  pulpit :  once  in- 
deed he  preached  before  the  protector,  and  made  use  of 
the  following  text:    "Now  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  by 
the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  ye  all  speak  the 
same  thing,  and  that  there  be  no  divisions  amongst  you, 
but  that  ye  be  perfectly  joined  together  in  the  same  mind 
and  in  the  same  judgment."     He  levelled  his  discourse 
against  the  divisions  and  distractions  of  the  church.     A 
while  after  Cromwell  sent  to  speak  with  him  :  when  he  be- 
gan a  long  and  serious  speech  to  him  of  God's  providence 
in  the  change  of  the  government,  and  how  God  had  owned 
it,  and   what  great  things  had  been  done  at  home   and 
abroad  in  the  peace  with  Spain  and  Holland.     Mr.  Bax- 
ter told  him,  "  It  was  too  great  condescension  to  acquaint 
him  so  fully  with  all, these  matters,  which  were  above  him: 
.but  that  the  honest  people  of  the  land  took  their  ancient 
monarchy  to  be  a  blessing,  and  not  an  evil ;  and  humbly 
craved  his  patience,  that  he  might  ask  him,  how  they  had 
forfeited  that  blessing^  and  unto  whom  that  forfeiture  was 
made  ?"     Upon  this    question    Cromwell    became   angry, 
and  told  him,  "  There   was  no  forfeiture,  but  God  had 
changed  it  as  pleased  him ;"  and  then  he  reviled  the  par- 
liament,   which  thwarted   him,    and  especially  by  name 
four  or  five  members,  Mr.  Baxter's  particular  acquaint- 
ances, whom  he  presumed  to  defend  against  the  protec- 
tor's" passion.     A  few  days  after  he  sent  for  him  again, 
under  pretence  of  asking  him  his  opinion  about  liberty  of 
conscience;  at  which  time  also  he  made,  a  long  tedious 
speech,  which  took  up  so  much  time,  that  Mr.  Baxter  de- 
sired to  offer  his  sentiments  in  writing,  which  he  did,  but 
says,  he  questions  whether  Cromwell  read  them. 

Mr.  Baxter  came  to  London  a  little  before  the  deposition 
of  Richard  Cromwell,  and  preached  before  the  parliament 
the  day  preceding  that  on  which  they  voted  the  king's  re- 
turn. He  preached  likewise  before  the  lord  mayor  at  St. 
Paul's  a  thanksgiving  sermon  for  general  Monk's  success. 
Upon  the  king's  restoration  he  was  appointed  one  of  his 

Vol.  IV.  O 


.  i 


194  B  A  X  T  E  R. 

.chaplains  in  ordinary,  preached  once  before  him,  had  fre- 
quent access  to  his  majesty,  and  was  always  treated  by  him 
with  peculiar  respect.     He  assisted  at  the  Conference  at 
the  Savoy,  as  one  of  the  commissioners,  and  drew  up  a 
reformed  Liturgy,  which  Dr.  Johnson  pronounced  "  one 
of  the  finest  compositions  of  the  ritual  kind  he  had  ever 
seen."     He  was  offered  the  bishopric  of  Hereford  by'the 
lord  chancellor  Clarendon,  which  he  refused,  and  gave 
his  lordship  his  reasons  for  not  accepting  of  it,  in  a  letter ; 
he  required  no  favpur  but  that  of  being  permitted  to  con- 
tinue minister  at  Kidderminster,  but*  could  not  obtain  it. 
Being  thus  disappointed,  he  preached  occasionally  about 
the  citv  of  London,  having  a  licence  from  bishop  Sheldon, 
upon  nis  subscribing  a  promise  not  to  preach  any  thing 
against  the  doctrine  or  peremonies  of  the  church.     May  15, 
1662,  he  preached  his  farewell  sermon  at  Black  friars,  and 
afterwards  retired  to  Acton  in  Middlesex.   In  1665,  during 
the  plague,  he  went  to  Richard  Hampden's,  esq.  in  Bucking- 
hamshire ;  and  when  it  ceased,  returned  to  Acton.     He 
continued  here  as  long  as  the  act  against  conventicles  wa» 
in  force,  and,  when  that  was  expired,  had  so  many  auditors 
that  he  wanted  room :  but,  while  thus  employed,  by  a 
warrant  signed  by  two  justices,  he  was  committed  for  sir 
months  to  New  Prison  gaol ;  having,  however,  procured  an 
habeas  corpus,  he  was  discharged,  and  removed  to  Totte- 
ridge  near  Barnet.     In  this  affair,  he  experienced  the  sin- 
cerity of  many  of  his  best  friends.     As  he  was  going  to 
prison,  he  called  upon  serjeant  Fountain  for  his  advice, 
who,  after  perusing  the  mittimus,  said,  that  he  might  be 
discharged  from  his  imprisonment  by  law.     The  earl  of 
Orrery,  the  earl  of  Manchester,  the  earl  of  Arlington,  and 
the  duke  of  Buckingham,  mentioned  the  affair  to  the  king, 
who  was  pleased  to  send  sir  John  Baber  to  him,  to  let  him 
know,  that  though  his  majesty  was  not  willing  to  relax  the 
law,  yet  he  would  not  be  offended,  if  by  any  application 
to  the  courts  in  Westminster- hall  he  could   procure  his 
liberty  ;  upon  this  an  habeas  corpus  was  demanded  at  the 
bar  of  the  common  pleas,  and  granted.     The  judges  were 
clear  in  their  opinion,  that  the  mittimus  was  insufficient, 
and  thereupon  discharged  him.     This  exasperated  the  jus- 
tices who  committed   him ;    and  therefore  they  made  a 
hew  mittimus  in  order  to  have  sfent  him  to  the  county-gaol 
of  Newgate,  which  he  avoided  by  keeping  out  of  the  way. 
After  the  indulgence  in  1672,  he  returned  u>  London,  and 


BAXTER.  195 

preached  oil  week-days  at  Pinner's  hall,  at  a  meeting  in 
Fetter-lane,  and  in  St  James's  market  house  ;  s*nd  the  times 
appearing  more  favourable  about  two  years  after,  he  built 
a  meeting-house  in  Oxenden-street,  where  he  had  preached 
but  once,  when  a  resolution  was  formed  to  take  him  by  sur- 
prise, and  send  him  to  the  county  gaol,  on  the  Oxford  act ; 
which  misfortune  he  escaped,  but  the  person  who  happened 
to  preach  for  him  was  sent  to  the  Gate-house,  where  he 
was  confined  three  months.  After  having  been  three  years 
kept  out  of  his  meeting-house,  he  took  another  in  Swal- 
low-street, but  was  likewise  prevented  from  preaching  there, 
a  guard  having  been  placed  for  many  Sundays  to  hinder 
his  entrance.  Upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Wadsworth,  be 
preached  to  bis  congregation  in  Southwark. 

In  16S2,  he  was  seized  by  a  warrant,  for  coming  within 
'five  miles  of  a  corporation ;  and  five  more  warrants  were 
served  upon  him  to  distrain  for  195/.  as  a  penalty  for  five 
sermons  he  had  preached,  so  that  his  books  and  goods  were 
sold.  He  was  not,  however,  imprisoned  on  this  occasion, 
which  was  owing  to  Dr.  Thomas  Cox,  who  went  to  five 
justices  of  the  peace,  before  whom  he  swore  that  Mr.  Bax- 
ter was  in  such  a  bad  state  of  health,  that  he  could  not  go 
to  prison  v  without  danger  of  death.  In  the  beginning  of 
1685,  be  was  committed  to  the  king's  bench  prison,  by  a 
warrant  from  the  lord  chief  justice  Jefferies,  for  his  para- 
phrase on  the  New  Testament ;  and  on  May  1 8,  of  the 
same  year,  he  was  tried  in  the  court  of  king's  bench,  and 
found  guilty.  He  was  condemned  to  prison  for  two  years ; 
but,  in  1686,  king  James,  by  the  mediation  of  the  lord 
Powis,  granted  him  a  pardon ;  and  on  Nov.  24^  he  was  dis- 
charged out  of  the  king's  bench*.     After  which  he  retired 

*  As  this  trial  was  the  most  remark-  give  him  a  minute's  mora  time  to  save 
.able  transaction  in  Mr.  Baxter's  life,  his  life.    We  have  had  to  do  with  other 
and  oae  of  the  most  characteristic  of  sorts  of  persons,  bat  now  we  have*  a 
Jefferies's  arbitrary  disposition,  we  are  saint  to  dealt  with,  and  I  know  how  to 
•persuaded  our  readers  will  not  com-  deal   with  saints   as  well  as   sinners, 
plain  of  the  length  of  this  note.    On  Yonder  stands  Oates  in  the  pillory  (as 
-the  6th  of  May,  Mr.  Baxter  appeared  he  actually  did  in  the  New  Palace  yard), 
in  the  court  of  king's  bench,  aud  Mr.  and  he  says,  lie  suffers  for  the  truth, 
Attorney  declared  he  would  file  an  in-  and  so  does  Baxter ;  but  if  Baxter  did 
formation  against  him.    On  the  14th,  but  stand  on  the  other  side  of  the  pit- 
the  dependent  pleaded  not  guilty,  and  lory  with  him,  I  would  say  two  "of  the 
en  the  18th,  Mr.  Baxter  being  much  greatest  rogues  and  rascals  in  the  king- 
indisposed,  and  desiring  further  time  dom  stood  there."    On   the  30th  of 
than  to  the  30th,  the  day  appointed  May,  in  the  afternoon,  he  was -brought 
for  the  trial,  he  moved  by  bis  counsel  to  bis  trial  before  the  lord  chief  justice 
that  it  might  be  put  off ;  on  which  the  Jefferies     at    Guildhall.      Sir   Henry 
4&i&f  justice  answered,   '*  I  will  not  Attaint,  who  could  not  fomke hi*  own 

O  2 


196 


BAXTER. 


to  a  house  in  Charterhouse-yard,  where  he  assisted  Mr* 
Sylvester  every  Sunday  morning,  and  preached  a  lecture 
every  Thursday. 


and  his  father's  friend,  stood  by  bim 
all  the  while.  Mr.  Baxter  came  first 
into  court,  and  with  all  the  marks  of 
serenity  and  composure  waited  for  the 
coming  of  the  lord  chief  justice,  who 
appeared  quickly  after  with  great  in- 
dignation in  his  face.  He  no  sooner 
sat  down,  than  a  short  cause  was  called* 
and  tried;  after  which  the  clerk  be- 
gan to  read  the  title  of  another  cause. 
You'  blockhead  you  (says  Jefferies), 
the  next  cause  is  between  Richard 
Baxter  and  the  king  :  upon  which  Mr. 
Baxter's  cause  was  called.  The  pas- 
sages mentioned  in  the  information, 
were  his  paraphrase  on  Matth.  v.  1 9. 
Mark  ix.  39.  Mark  xi.  31.  Mark  xii. 
38,  39,  40.  Luke  x.  2.  John  xi.  57.  and 
Acts  xt.  2.  These  passages  were 
picked  out  by  sir  Roger  L'Estrange, 
and  some  of  his  fraternity.  And  a 
certain  noted  clergyman  (who  shall  be 
nameless)  put  into  the  hands  of  his 
enemies  some  accusations  out  of  Rom. 
xiii.  &c.  as  against  the  king,  to  touch 
his  life ;  but  no  use  was  made  of  them. 
The  great  charge  was,  that  in  these 
several  passages  he  reflected  on  the 
prelates  of  the  church  of  England,  and 
so  was  guilty  of  sedition,  &c.  The 
king's  counsel  opened  the  information 
at  large,  with  its  aggravations.  Mr. 
Wallop,  Mr.  Williams,  Mr.  Rother- 
ham,  Mr.  Atwood,  and  Mr.  Phipps, 
were  Mr.  Baxter's  counsel,  and  had 
been  feed  by  sir  Henry  Ashurst  Mr. 
Wallop  said,  that  he  conceived  the 
matter  depending  being  a  point  of  doc- 
trine, it  ought  to  be  referred  to  the 
bishop,  his  ordinary ;  but  if  not,  he 
humbly  conceived  the  doctrine  was 
innocent  and  justifiable,  setting  aside 
the  inuendos,  for  which  there  was  no 
colour,  there  being  no  antecedent  to 
refer  them  to  (i.  e.  no  bishop  or  clergy 
of  the  church  of  England  named).  He 
said  the  book  accused,  i.  e;  The  Com- 
ment on  the  New  Testament,  contained 
many  eternal  truths;  but  they  who 
drew  the  information  were  the  libellers, 
in  applying  to  the  prelates  of  the 
church  of  England,  those  severe  things 
which  were  written  concerning  some 
prelates  who  deserved  the  characters 
which  he  gave.  My  lord  (says  he),  I 
humbly  conceive  the  bishops  Mr.  Bax- 


ter speaks  of,  as  your  lordship,  if  you 
have  rea/1  church  history,  must  con- 
fess, were  the  plagues  of  the  church 
and  of  the  world.  "  Mr.  Wallop,"  says 
the  lord  chief  justice,  "  I  observe 
you  are  in  all  these  dirty  causes  ;  and 
were  it  not  for  you  gentlemen  of  tha 
long  robe,  who  should  have  more  wit 
and  honesty  than,  to  support  and  hold 
up  these  factious  knaves  by  the  chin, 
we  should  not  be  at  the  pass  we  are." 
My  lord,  says  Mr.  Wallop,  I  humbly 
conceive,  that  the  passages  accused 
are  natural  deductions  from  the  text. 
"  You  humbly  conceive,"  says  Jeffe- 
ries, "  and  I  humbly  conceive  :  Swear 
him,  swear  bim."  My  lord,  says  he, 
under  favour,  I  am  counsel  for  the 
defendant ;  and,  if  I  understand  either 
Latin  or  English,  the  information  now 
brought  against  Mr.  Baxter  upon  such 
a  slight  ground,  is  a  greater  reflection, 
upon  the  church  of  England,  than  any 
thing  contained  in  the  hook  he  is  ac- 
cused for.  Says  Jefferies  to  him, 
"  Sometimes  you  humbly  conceive, 
and  sometimes  you  arc  very  positive  : 
You  talk  of  your  skill  in  church  his- 
tory, andof  your  understanding  Latin 
and  English;  I  think  1  understand 
something  of  them  as  well  as  you ;  hut, 
in  short,  must  tell  you,  that  if  you 
do  not  understand  your  duty  better,  I 
shall  teach  it  you."  Upon  which  Mr. 
Wallop  sat  down.  Mr.  Rotheram 
urged,  that  if  Mr.  Baxter's  book  had 
sharp  reflections  upon  the  church  of 
Rome  by  name,  but  spake  well  of  the 
prelates  of  the  church  of  England,  it 
was  to  be  presumed  that  the  sharp 
reflections  were  intended  only  against 
the  prelates  of  the  church  of  Rome. 
The  lord  chief  justice  said,  Baxter  waa 
an  enemy  to  the  name  and  thing,  tha 
office  and  person  of  bishops.  Rothe- 
ram  added,  that  Baxter  frequently  at- 
tended divine  service,  went  to  the  sa- 
crament, and  persuaded  others  to  do 
so  too,  as  was  certainly  and  publicly 
known ;  and  had,  in  the  very  book  so 
charged,  spoken  very  moderately  and 
honourably  of  the  bishops  of  the  church, 
of  England.  Mr.  Baxter  added,  My 
lord,  I  have  been  so  moderate  with 
respect  to  the  church  of  England,  that 
1  bava  incurred  the  censure  of  many 


BAXTER. 


191 


Mr.  Baxter  died  Dec.  the  8th,  1691,  and  was  interred  in 
Christ-church,  whither  his  corpse  was  attended  by  a  nu- 
merous company  of  persons  of  different  ranks,  and  many 


of  the  dissenters  upon  that  account. 
"  Baxter  for  bishops  !"  says*  Jefferies, 
"  that's  aimerry  conceit  indeed;  turn 
to  it,  turn  to  it."  Upon  this  Rotheram 
turned  to  a  place  where  it  is  said, 
"  That  great  respect  is  due  to  those 
truly  called  to  be  bishops  among  us," 
or  to  that  purpose.  "  Ay,"  saith  Jef- 
feries, this  is  your  Presbyterian  cant ; 
truly  called  to  be  bishops ;  that  is  him* 
self,  and  such  rascals,  called  to  be 
bishops  of  Kidderminster,  and  other 
such  places :  bishops  set  apart  by  such 
factious,  snivelling  Presbyterians  as 
himself;  a  Kidderminster  bishop  he 
means  :  According  to  the  saying  of  a 
late  learned  author,  and  every  parish 
shall  maintain  a  tithe-pig  Metropo- 
litan." Mr.  Baxter  beginning  to  speak 
-again,  says  he  to  him,  "  Richard, 
Kichard,  dost  thou  think  we  will  hear 
thee  poison  the  court,  &c.  Richard, 
thou  art  an  old  fellow,  an  old  knave; 
thou  hast  written  books  enough  to  load 
a  cart,  every  one  as  full  of  sedition  (I 
might  say  treason)  as  an  e%g  is  full  of 
meat.  Hadst  thou  been  whipped  out 
of  thy  writing  trade  forty  years  ago,  it 
had  been  happy.  Thou  pretendest  to 
be  a  preacher  of  the  gospel  of  peace, 
and  thou  hast  one  foot  in  the  grave ; 
'tis  time  for  thee  to  begin  to  think  what 
account  thou  in  tend  est  to  give.  But 
leave  thee  to  thyself,  and  1  see  thouPt 
go  on  as  thou  hast  begun  ;  but,  by  the 
grace  of  Ood,  I  will  look  after  thee. 
I  know  thou  hast  a  mighty  party,  and 
I  see  a  great  many  of  the  brotherhood 
in  corners,  waiting  to  see  what  will 
become  of  their  mighty  don,  and  a 
doctor  of  the  party  (looking  to  Dr., 
Bates)  at  your  elbow ;  but,  by  the 
grace  of  Almighty  God,  I'll  crush  you 
all."  Mr.  Rotheram  sitting  down, 
Mr.  At  wood  began  to  shew,  that  not 
one  of  the  passages  meutioned  in  the 
information  ought  to  be  strained  to 
that  sense  which  was  put  upon  them 
by  the  inuendos,  they  being  more  na- 
tural when  taken  in  a  milder  sense, 
nor  could  any  one  of  them  be  applied  to  • 
the  prelates  of  the  church  of  England 
without  a  very  forced  construction. 
To  evidence  this,  he  would  have  read 
som«  of  the  text :  But  Jefferies  cried, 
out,  You  shall  not  draw  me  into  a  con- 


venticle with  your  annotations,  nor 
your  snivelling  parson  neiiber.  My 
lord,  says  Atwood,  1  conceive  this  to 
be  .expressly  within  Ros well's  case, 
lately  before  your  lordship.  You  con- 
ceive, says'  Jefferies,  you  conceive 
amiss;  it  is  not.  My  lord,  says  Mr* 
Atwood,  that  I  may  use  the  best  au- 
thority, permit  me  to  repeat  your 
lordship's  own  words  in  that  case.  No, 
you  shall  not,  says  be :  You  need  not 
speak,  for  you  are  an  author  already  ; 
though  you  speak  and  write  imperti- 
nently. Says  Atwood,  1  cannot  help 
that,  my  lord,  if  my  talent  be  no  bet- 
ter ;  but  it  is  my  duty  to  do  my  best 
for  my  client.  Jefferies  thereupon 
went  on,  inveighing  against  what  At- 
wood had  published;  and  Atwood  jus- 
tified it  to  be  in  defence  of  the  English 
constitution,  declaring  that  he  never 
disowned  any  thing  that  he  had  written. 
Jefferies  several  times  ordered  him  to 
sit  down,  but  he  still  went  on.  My 
lord,  says  he,  1  have  matter  of  law  to 
offer  for  my  client;  and  he  proceeded 
to  cite  several  cases,  wherein  it  had 
been  adjudged  that  words  ought  to  bo 
taken  in  the  milder  sense,  and  not  to 
be  strained  by  inuendos.  Well,  says 
Jefferies,  when  he  had  done,  you  have  * 
had  your  say.  Mr.  Williams  and  Mr. 
Phipps  said  .nothing,  for  they  saw  it 
was  to  no  purpose.  At  length,  saya 
Mr.  Baxter  himself,  My  lord,  I  think 
I  can  clearly  answer  all  that  is  laid 
to  my  charge,  and  I  shall  do  it  'briefly. 
The  /sum  is  contained  in  these  few  pa- 
pers, to  which  I  shall  add  a  little  by 
testimony.  But  Jefferies  would  not 
hear  a  word.  At  length  the  chief  jus- 
tice summed  up  the  matter  in  a  long 
and  fulsome  harangue.  "  'Tis  noto- 
riously known,"  says  he,  "  there  has 
been  a  design  to  ruin  the  king  and 
the  nation.  The  old  game  has  been 
renewed,  and  this  has  been. the  main 
incendiary.  He  is  as  modest  now  as 
can  be;  but  time  was,  when  no  man 
was  so  ready  to  bind  your  kings  in 
chains,  and  your  nobles  in  fetters  of 
iron  ;  and  to  your  tents,  O  Israel. 
Gentlemen,  for  God's  sake  don't  let  us 
be  gulled  twice  in  an  age,  &c."  And 
when 'lie  concluded,  he  told  the  jury, 
that  if  they  iu   their  consciences  bo- 


Ids  BAXTER. 

i 

clergymen  of  the  established  church.  He  wrote  a  great 
number  of  books.  Mr.  Long  of  Exeter  says  fourscore ; 
Dr.  Calamy,  one  hundred  and  twenty;  but  the  author  of 
a  note  in  the  Biographia  Britannica  tells  us  he  had  seen  an 
hundred  and  forty-tive  distinct  treatises  of  Mr.  Baxter's  : 
bis  practical  works  have  been  published  in  four  volumes 
folio.  Of  these  his  "  Saint's  Everlasting  Rest,"  and  his 
**  Call  to  the  Unconverted,'*  are  the  most  popular,  but  ex* 
cepting  the  last,  we  know  not  of  any  of  his  works  that  have 
been  reprinted  for  a  century  past,  doubtless  owing  to  his 
peculiar  notions  on  points  about  which  the  orthodox  dis- 
senters are  agreed.  Bishop  Burnet,  in  the  History  of  his 
own  times,  calls  him  "  a  man  of  great  piety  ;"  and  says* 
"  that  if  he  had  not  meddled  with  too  many  things,  he 
would  have  been  esteemed  one  of  the  most  learned  men  of 
the  age  ;  that  he  had  a  moving  and  pathetical  way  of  writ- 
ing, and  was  his  whole  life  long  a  man  of  great  zeal  and 
much  simplicity,  but  was  unhappily  subtle  and  metaphysi- 
cal in  every  thing."  This  character  may  be  justly  applied 
to  Mr.  Baxter,  whose  notions  agreed  with  no  church,  and 
no  sect.  The  consequence  was,  that  no  man  was  ever 
more  the  subject  of  controversy.  Calamy  says  that  about 
sixty  treatises  were  opposed  to  him  and  his  writings.  What 
his  sentiments  were,  will  appear  from  the  following  sketch 
drawn  up  by  the  late  Dr.  Kippis.  <*  His  Theological  Sys- 
tem has  been  called  Baxterianism,  and  those  who  embrace 
his  sentiments  in  divinity,  are  styled  Baxterians.  Baxte- 
rianism strikes  into  a  middle  path  between  Calvinism  and 
Arminianism,  endeavouring,  in  some  degree,  though  per- 
haps not  very  consistently,  to  unite  both  schemes,  and  to 
avoid  the  supposed  errors  of  each.  The  Baxterians,  we 
apprehend,  believe  in  the  doctrines  of  election,  effectual 

lieved  he  meant  the  bishops  and  clergy  Baxter  told  my  lord  chief  justice,  who 

of  the  church  of  England,  in  the  pas-  had  so  loaded  him  with  reproaches, 

tages  which  the   information  referred  and  yet  continued  them,  that  a  pre- 

to,  they  must  find  him  guilty ;  and  he  decessor  of  his  had  had  other  thoughts 

could  mean  no  man  else ;  if  not,  they  of  him  :  Upon  which  he  replied,  "  That 

must  find  him  not  guilty.     When  he  there  was  not  an  honest  man  in  Eng- 

had  done,    says  Mr.  Baxter  to  him,  land  but'  what  took  htm  for  a  great 

Does  your  lordship  think  any  jury  will  knave."    He  had  subpceuaed  several 

pretend  to  pass  a  verdict  upon  me,  clergymen,    who  appeared  in    court, 

upon  such  a  trial?      '*  I'll  warrant  but  were  of  no  use  to  him,  through  the 

you,  Mr.   Baxter,"  soys  he,  '*  don't  violence    of   the  chief  justice.     The 

you  trouble  yourself  about  that."    The  trial   being  over,    sir  Henry  Ashnrst 

jury  immediately  laid  their  heads  to-  led  Mr.  Baxter  through  the  crowd  (I 

getber  at  the  bar,  and  found  him  guilty,  mention  it  to  his  honour),  and  cob* 

As  he  waft  going  from  the  bar,  Mr.  veyed  him  away  in  his  coach. 


r 


BAXTER.  199 

calling,  and  other  tenets  of  Calvinism,  and,  consequently, 
suppose  that  a  certain  number,  determined  upon  in  the 
divine  counsels,  will  infallibly  be  saved.  This  they  think 
necessary  to  secure  the  ends  of  Christ's  interposition.  But 
then,  on  the  other  hand,  they  reject  the  doctrine  of  repro- 
bation, and  admit  that  our  blessed  Lord,  in  a  certain  sense, 
died  for  all ;  and  that  such  a  portion  of  grace  is  allotted  to 
every  man,  as  renders  it  his  own  fault,  if  he  doth  not  attain 
to  eternal  happiness.  If  he  improves  the  common  grace 
given  to  all  mankind,  this  will  be  followed  by  that  special 
grace  which  will  end  in  his  final  acceptance  and  salvation. 
Whether  the  Baxter ians  are  of  opinion,  that  any,  besides 
the  elect,  will  actually  make  such  a  right  use  of  common 
grace,  as  to  obtain  the  other,  and,  at  length,  come  to 
heaven,  we  cannot  assuredly  say.  There  may  possibly  be 
a  difference  of  sentiment  upon  the  subject,  according  as 
they  approach  nearer  to  Calvinism  or  to  Arminianism.  Mr. 
Baxter  appears  likewise  to  have  modelled  the  doctrines  of 
justification,  and  the  perseverance  of  the  saints,  in  ^man- 
ner which  was  not  agreeable  to  the  rigid  Calvinists.  His 
distinctions  upon  all  these  heads  we  do  not  mean  particu- 
larly to  inquire  into,  as  they  would  not  be  very  interesting 
to  the  generality  of  our  readers.  Some  foreign  divines,  in 
the  last  century,  struck  nearly  into  the  same  path;  and 
particularly,  in  France,  Mons.  le  Blanc,  Mr.  Cameron,  and 
the  celebrated  Mons.  Amyrault.  For  a  considerable  time, 
the  non-conformist  clergy  in  England  were  divided  into 
scarcely  any  but  two  doctrinal  parties,  the  Calvinists  and 
the  Baxterians,  There  were,  indeed,  a  few  direct  Ar- 
minians  among  them,  whose  number  was  gradually  increas- 
ing. Of  late,  since  many  of  the  dissenters  have  become 
more  bold  in  their  religious  sentiments,  the  Baxterians 
among  them  have  been  less  numerous.  However,  they 
are  still  a  considerable  body  ;  and  several  persons  are  fond 
of  the  name,  as  a  creditable  one,  who,  we  believe,  go 
farther  than  Mr.  Baxter  did.  The  denomination,  like  other 
theological  distinctions  which  have  prevailed  in  thev  world, 
will  probably,  in  a  course  of  time,  sink  into  desuetude,  till 
it  is  either  wholly  forgotten,  or  the  bare  memory  of  it  be 
only  preserved  in  some  historical  production." l 

1  Biog.  Brit.*— Life  by  Sylvester,  fol.  written  by  himself,  and  containing  a  bis* 
tory  of  his  times.— Abridgement  of  ditto  by  Calamy.—  Long's  Review  of  ois.tifi&j 
$yo-— -fee,  fee.     . 


200  BAXTER. 

BAXTER  (William),  an  eminent  grammarian  and  cri- 
tic, and  nephew  to  the  preceding,  was  born  in  1650,  at 
Lanlugan  in  Shropshire..  His  education  appears  to  have 
been  more  irrrguldr  and  neglected  than  that  of  his  uncle, 
since  at  the  a<>e  of  eighteen,  when  he  went  to  Harrow 
school,  he  could  not  read,  nor  understood  one  word  of  any 
language  but  Welch,  a  circumstance  very  extraordinary 
at  a  time  when  education,  if'  given  at  all,  was  given  early, 
and  when  scholars  went  to  the  universities  much  younger 
than  at  present.  Mr.  Baxter,  however,  must  have  retrieved 
his  loss  of  time  with  zeal  and  assiduity,  as  it  is  certain  he 
became  a  man  of  great  learning,  although  we  are  unac- 
quainted with  the  steps  by  which  he  attained  this  eminence, 
and  must  therefore  employ  the  remainder  of  this  articje 
principally  in  an  account  of  his  publications.  His  favourite 
studies  appear  to  have  been  antiquities  and  physiology. 
His  first  publication  was  a  Latin  Grammar,  entitled  "  De 
Analogia,  sive  arte  Linguae  Latinos  Commentariolus,  &c, 
in  usum  provectioris  adolescentiae,"  1679,  12mo.  In  1695,  . 
he  published  his  well-known  edition  of  "  Anacreon,"  at-  - 
terwards  reprinted  in  1710,  with  improvements,  but  those 
improvements  are  said  to  have  been  derived  from  Joshua 
Barnes's  edition  of  1705.  Dr.  Harwood  calls'this  edition 
"  an  excellent  one,"  but,  according  to  Harles  and  Fischer, 
Baxter  has  been  guilty  of  unjustifiable  alterations,  and  has 
so  mutilated  passages,  that  his  temerity  must  excite  the 
indignation  of  every  sober  scholar  and  critic.  Mr.  Boswell, 
in  his  Life  of  Dr.  Johnson,  mentions  a  copy  of  Baxter's 
edition,  which  his  father,  lord  Auckinlech,  had  collated 
wi^h  the  MS.  belonging  to  the  university  of  Ley  den,  ac- 
companied by  a  number  of  notes.  This  copy  is  probably 
still  in  the  library  of  that  venerable  judge. 

In  1701  Mr.  Baxter's  celebrated  edition  of  Horace  made 
its  appearance,  of  which  it  is  said  that  a  second  edition  was 
finished  by  him  a  few  days  before  his  death,  and  published 
by  his  son  John,  but  not  until  1725.  In  it  there  were 
some  corrections,  alterations,  and  additions  introduced.  Dr. 
Harwood  bestows  the  highest  praise  on  it,  as  "by  far  the 
best  edition  of  Horace  ever  published.'*  He  adds,  "  I  have 
read  it  many  times  through,  and  know  its  singular  worth, 
England  has  not  produced  a  more  elegant  or.  judicious  cri- 
tic than  Baxter."  Gesner,  entertaining  the  same  sentin 
ments,  when  he  was  requested  to  give  an  edition  of  (i-or^c^ 


BAXTER.  201 

made  Baxters  labours  the  foundation  of  his  own,  and  pub- 
lished his  edition,  thus  improved  in  1752,  and  again  in 
1772,  the  latter  still  more  improved  by  a  collation  of  some 
MSS.  and  some  very  early  editions  which  do  not  appear  to 
have  been  consulted  by  Baxter.  On  the  appearance  of 
this  last  edition,  Dr.  Lowth,  the  late  learned  bishop  of  Lon- 
don, pronounced  it  the  best  edition  of  Horade  ever  yet 
delivered  to  the  world.  In  1788,  Zeunius  republished  it, 
preserving  all  Baxter's  and  Gesner's  observations,  adding 
a  few  of  his  own,  and  availing  himself  of  the  labours  of 
Jani  and  Wieland.  Of  this  a  very  elegant  edition  was 
published  in  1797,  by  Mr.  Payne,  of  Pall  Mall,  printed 
by  Mundell  of  Glasgow,  in  8vo.  But  what  can  we^ay  to 
the  uncertainties  of  criticism  ?  HarleS  and  Mitscherlich 
do  not  concur  with  Dr.  Harwood  in  his  opinion  of  Baxter's 
edition  of  1725,  and  they  both  under-rate  his  labours, 
Harles  blaming  him  for  his  "ribaldry  and  abuse  of  Bentley." 
Baxter  was  certainly  irritated  against  Betuley,  probably 
on  account  of  some  remarks  introduced  by  Bentley  into 
his  edition  of  Horace,  which  had  been  published  in  the 
interval  between  1701  and  the  time  of  his  death.  Gesnec 
makes  all  the  apology  that  can  now  be  offered :  he  thinks 
that  Baxter  might  feel  Bentley's  contempt,  than  whom  no 
man  could  deal  out  contempt  more  severely,  or  Baxter 
might  himself  be  affected  with  somewhat  of  the  irritability 
of  age. 

In  1719,  Baxter  published  his  Dictionary  of  the  British 
Antiquities,  under  the  title  of  ".  Glossnrium  Antiquitatum 
Britannicarum,  sive  Syllabus  Etymologicus  Antiquitatum 
veteris  Britanniae,  atque  Ibernia),  temporibus  Roman orum, 
&c."  dedicated  to  Dr.  Mead,  and  with  a  fine  head  of  the 
author  by  Vertue,  from  a  picture  by  Highmore,  when  Bax- 
ter was  in  the  sixty-ninth  year  of  his  age.  The  collectors 
will  be  glad  to  hear  that  in  some  of  the  earliest  impressions, 
the  painter's  name  is  spelt  Hymore.  This  painting  was 
done  for  a  club-room,  where  Mr.  Baxter  presided,  in  the 
Old  Jewry,  but  the  landlord  removing,  took  it  with  him, 
and  it  has  never  been  heard  of  since.  It  is,  perhaps,  of 
more  importance  to  add,  that  this  work  was  published  by 
the  Rev.  Moses  Williams,  who  also,  in  1726,  published 
Baxter's  Glossary  or  Dictionary  of  the  Roman  Antiquities, 
under  the  title  of  "  Reliquiae  Baxterianae,  sive  W.  Baxter} 
Opera  Posthuma."  This  goes  no  farther  than  the  letter  A, 
feuf  has  a  fragment  of  the  life  of  the  author  written  by 


«0$  BAXTE 

himself.  His  etymologies  in  this  work  are  often  correct, 
and  undeniable,  but  some  are  capricious.  The  reason  of 
his  declining  to  proceed  farther  than  the  first  letter  of  the 
alphabet,  was  the  reluctance  of  the  booksellers  to  bear  the 
expence  of  his  Glossarium,  which,  however,  he  had  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  published  before  his  death,  by  the 
liberality  of  Dr.  Mead.  On  the  publication  of  the  last 
mentioned  work,  Mr.  Bowyer,  the  celebrated  printer,  whose 
memory  has  been  so  ably  and  so  usefully  preserved  by  his 
successor,  published  a  small  tract  (included  in  his  "  Mis-* 
cellaneous  Tracts")  entitled  "  A  View  of  a  book,  entitled 
*  Reliquiae  Baxterianae,'  in  a  Letter  to  a  friend."  This  is 
fc  very  acute  and  learned  analysis  of  the  work  mentioned, 
and  gives  us  an  amusing  account  of  Baxter's  Life  of  him- 
self, which  is,  in  fact,  an  endeavour  to  trace  his  family.  He 
derives  bis  name  Baxter  from  the  Saxon,  Baker,  for  which 
reason  he  writes  himself,  from  a  word  of  the  same  signifi- 
cation in  Welch,  Popidius.  We  may  also  add,  that  to  this 
day  Baxter  and  Paker  (the  trade)  are  in  most  parts  of  Scot- 
land synonymous.  In  this  short  pedigree,  he  speaks  with 
the  warmth  of  affection  for  his  celebrated  relative  Richard 
Baxter.  Alluding  to  the  usual  reproach  passed  on  extem- 
pore preachers,  he  says,  "  Vir  extemporanea  dicendi  fa- 
cultate  incredibili,  zelo  plane  Apostolico  (quern  scurrse 
nostrorum  temporum  cantum  dicunt),  &c." 

In  1731  Mr.  Moses  Williams  issued  proposals  for  print- 
ing "  Gulielmi  Baxteri  quae  supersunt  enarratid  et-nofcae 
in  D.  Junii  Juvenalis  Satyras,"  but  which  was  not  pub- 
lished. Mr.  Baxter  contributed  alsb  largely  to  the  trans- 
lation of  Plutarch's  Morals  by  various  hands,  published 
about  the  beginning  of  the  last  century.  He  perfectly 
understood  the  ancient  British  and  Irish  languages,  as  well 
us  the  northern  and  eastern  tongues.  He  kept  a  corre- 
spondence with  most  of  the  learned  men  of  his  time,  par- 
ticularly with  Edward  Lluyd*  the  antiquary.  Some  of  Mr. 
Baxter's  letters  to  him  are  published  in  the  "  Glossarium 
Antiq.  Romanarum."  There  are  likewise  in  the  Philosophi- 
cal Transactions,  some  communications  by  him,  and  some 
in  the  first  volume  of  the  Arch&ologia.  Most  of  Mr.  Bax- 
ter's life  was  spent  in  the  education  of  youth,  and  for  that 
purpose  he  kept  a  boarding  school  at  Tottenham  High- cross 
in  Middlesex,  until  he  was  chosen  master  of  the  Mercers 
school*  in  London,  which  situation  he  held  above  twenty 


BAXTER.  803 

years,  but  resigned  it  before  his  death.    He  died  May 
31,  1723,  and  was  buried  at  Islington.  * 

BAYARD  (Peter  du  Terrail,  Chevalier  de),  a  brave 
and  celebrated  French  officer,  was  born  in  1476.  The  fa- 
mily name  was  Terrail,  and  Bayard  the  name  of  the  castie 
in  which  he  was  born.  The  family  of  Terrail,  now  extinct, 
once  held  a  very  distinguished  rank  among  the  nobility  of 
Dauphiny.  It  was  one  of  the  houses*  which,  in  that  pro- 
vince, were  honoured  with  the  name  of  the  Scarlet  Nobi- 
lity, which  served  to  distinguish  the  ancient  nobility  from 
those  who  were  created  by  the  letters  patent  of  Louis  XL 
which,  when  he  invaded  Dauphiny,  he  distributed  without 
distinction  to  whoever  would  purchase  them.  Although 
descended  from  a  line  of  heroes,  our  chevalier  eclipsed 
them  all.  His  inclination  for  arms  discovered  itself  very 
early,  and  an  answer  which  he  made  to  his  father,  when 
he  was  only  thirteen  years  old,  was  a  sufficient  presage  of 
his  future  achievements.  His  father  asked  him  what  kind 
of  life  he  would  chuse,  to  which  he  answered,  that  having 
derived  from  his  ancestors  an  illustrious  name,  and  the  ad- 
vantage of  many  shining  examples  of  heroic  virtue,  he . 
hoped  he  should  at  least  be  permitted  to  imitate  them. 

His  father,  affected  and  delighted  with  this  answer,  sent 
next  day  to  the  bishop  of  Grenoble,  his  brother-in-law^ 
and  requested  him  to  present  young  Bayard  to  the  duke  of 
Savoy,  in  the  quality  of  his  page.     His  clothes  and  equi- 
page being  prepared  in  a  few  hours,  he  mounted  a  horse, 
which  having  never  before  felt  a  spur,  gave  three  or  four 
springs,    which  greatly  alarmed  the   company.;    but  the 
'  young  hero,  without  being  at  all  disconcerted,  fixed  him- 
self in  the  saddle,  and  repeated  the  discipline  of  his  heel 
until  his  steed  submitted  to  his  direction.     The  parting  of 
the  father  and  the  son  was  affecting,  and,  his  biographer 
observes,  is  a  lively  picture  of  that  noble  simplicity  of 
manners,  from  which  his  nation  has  so  much  degenerated, 
by  the  false  refinements  of  an  effeminate  politeness.     His 
mother  recommended  three  things  to  him ;  the  first  was, 
"  to  fear,  and  love,  and  to  serve  God  ;"  the  second,  "  to 
be  gentle  and  courteous  to  the  nobility,  without  pride  or 
haughtiness  to  any  ;"  and  the  third  was,  "  to  be  generous 
and  charitable  to  the  poor  and  necessitous  ;"  adding,  that 

*  Nichols's  Life  of  Bowyeiv— Dibdin'i  Clasfics.— Month,  Rev.  N.  S.  vol.  XXV. 
*^Biog.  Brit.— Archaologia,  vol.  I. 


504  BAYARD. 

*  to  give  for  the  love  of  God  neter  made  any  man  poor.** 
Bayard  promised  to  follow  these  g6od  precepts,  and  al- 
though his  deviations  were  not  unfrequent,  he  preserved  a 
sense  of  religion  which  led  him  to  fulfil  all  its  external  du- 
ties at  least  with  exemplary  punctuality  and  zeal  :  neither 
his  youth,  nor  the  tumults  and  hurry  of  a  military  life,  nor 
the  dissolute  company  into  which  he  naturally  fell,  nor 
even  the  failings,  from  which  he  was  not  himself  exempt, 
could  ever  extinguish  in  his  breast  a  certain  veneration  for 
the  religion  in  which  he  had  been  brought  up. 

Bayard  continued  about  six  months  in  the  service  of  the 
duke  of  Savoy,  by  whom  he  was  then  presented  to  Charles 
VIII.  who  sent  him  to  the  count  de  Ligny,  of  the  imperial 
house  of  Luxembourg,  that  he  might  be  brought  up  in  his 
family.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  years  he  carried  away  all 
tn£  honour  of  a  tournament,  which  the  lord  of  Vaudrey, 
one  of  the  roughest  knights  of  his  time,  held  in  the  city  of 
Lyons.  In  1494,  Charles  VIII.  resolved  to  assert  his%right 
to  the  crown  of  Naples,  and  therefore  passed  into  Italy  at 
the  head  of  a  numerous  army,  consisting  of  the  prime  no- 
bility of  his  kingdom :  so  great  an  expedition,  says  Ber- 
ville  (from  whom  this  article  is  taken)  was  never  fitted  out 
with  so  much  speed,  splendour,  and  success.  The  con- 
quest, however,  was  almost  as  soon  lost  as  gained.  Charles, 
as  he  was  returning  to  France  with  less  than  10,000  men, 
was  attacked  near  Fornoue  by  an  army  of  six  times  the 
number.  Upon  this  occasion  he  behaved  with  the  greatest 
intrepidity,  and  gained  a  complete  victory,  and  Bayard 
distinguished  himself  in  an  extraordinary  manner.  He 
took  a  standard  from  a  party  of  fifty  men,  and  presented 
it  to  the  king,  who  rewarded  him  with  a  present  of  500 
crowns. 

Soon  after  Charles  VIII.  was  succeeded  by  Louis  XIL 
Bayard  followed  the  new  king  to  the  war,  which  broke  out 
in  Italy,  and  was  always  at  the  head  of  the  most  dangerous 
enterprizes.  He  undertook  singly,  4nd  alone,  as  his  bio- 
grapher expresses  it,  to  defend  a  bridge  over  the  G  aril  Ion 
against  two  hundred  Spanish  cavaliers;  and  actually  sus- 
tained their  whole  force  until  the  French  troops  came  to 
his  assistance.  .  Another  time,  with  only  thirty-six  men, 
he  stopped  the  whole  Swiss  army  near  Pavia.  Most  of  the 
advantages  gained  by  the  French,  in  the  course  of  this 
war,  were  owing  to  his  valour  :  and  it  was  by  one  of  thes§ 
achievements. that  he  obtained  the  name  of  tlje  "  Chevalier 


BAYARD.  205 

sans  peur  et  sans  reproche,"  the  knight  without  fear  and 
without  reproach ;  a  distinction,  which  did  him  the  more 
honour  as  it  was  never  possessed  by  any  other,  and  as  he 
acquired  it  at  a  time  when  the  military  honour  of  France 
was  at  its  height,  in  the  time  of  the  Nemours,  the  Foixes, 
the  Lautrecs,  Trimouilles,  and  Chabannes;  but  he  seemed 
to  surpass  himself  in  the  battle  of  Raven  nes,  which  was 
planned  and  conducted  by  him  alone. 

The  confidence  with  which  he  inspired  the  troops,  and 
the  love  which  they  had  for  him,  were  not  merely  the  ef- 
fects of  his  courage  :  they  knew  that  his  prudence  was  not 
inferior  to  his  valour,  and  that  he  never  would  expose  them 
wantonly  or  rashly  :  he  was  besides  so  disinterested,  that 
he  left  the  booty  wholly  to  others,  without  reserving  any 
part  of  it  for  himself.  One  day,  when  he  had  taken  1 5,000 
ducats  of  gold  from  the  Spaniards,  he  gave  half  of  them  to 
capt.  Terdieu,  and  distributed  the  rest  among  the  soldiers 
who  accompanied  him  in  the  expedition.  With  the  same 
generous  spirit  he  divided  2,400  ounces  of  silver  plate, 
which  he  received  as  a  present  from  the  count  de  Ligny, 
among  bis  friends  and  followers.  Having  defeated  Audre, 
the  Venetian  general,  he  took  Brisse,  and  a  lady  of  that 
city  present4ng  him  with  2,500  pistoles,  to  prevent  her 
house  from  being  pillaged,  he  divided  them  into  three  parts ; 
1000  he  gave  to  each  of  the  two  daughters  of  the  lady,  to 
help,  as  he  said,  to  marry  them,  and  the  500  which  re- 
mained he  caused  to  be  distributed  among  the  poor  nun- 
neries that  had  suffered  most  in  the  pillage  of  the  place.  lu 
this  lady's  house  he  lodged  until  he  had  recovered  from  a 
dangerous  wound  which  he  received  in  the  action. 

Bayard,  in  his  progress  to  military  command,  passed 
through  all  the  subordinate  stations  ;  and  if  he  did  not  ar- 
rive at  the  first  military  dignity  in  France,  he  was  univer- 
sally thought  to  deserve  it.  And  after  all,  the  title  of  mar- 
shal of  France  was  an  honour  which  he  would  have  pos- 
sessed in  common  with  many  others;  but  to  arm  his  king 
as  a  knight  was  a  personal  and  peculiar  honour,  which  no 
other  could  ever  boast.  The  occasion  was  this :  Francis  I. 
who  was  himself  one  of  the  bravest  men  of  his  time,  de- 
termined, after  bis  victory  of  Marignan,  to  receive  the 
order  of  knighthood  from  the  hands  of  Bayard.  Bayard 
modestly  represented  to  his  majesty,  that  so  high  an  ho- 
nour belonged  only  to  princes  of  the  blood;  but  the  king 
replied  in  a  positive  tone,  "  My  friend  Bayard,  I  will  this 


* 

«0S  BAYARD. 

day  be  made  a  knight  by  your  bands."  u  It  is  then  mf 
duty  ,"  said  Bayard,  "to  obey,"  and  taking  his  sword,  said, 
*'  Sire  autant  vaillevque  si  c'etoit  Roland  ou  Olivier,1' — 
"  May  it  avail  as  much  as  if  it  was  Roland  or  Olivier,"  two 
heroes  in  the  annals  of  chivalry,  of  whom  many  romantic 
tales  are  told.  When  the  ceremony  was  over,  Bayard  ad- 
dressed his  sword  with  an  ardour  which  the  occasion  in- 
spired, and  declared  it  was  a  weapon  hereafter  to  be  laid 
up  as  a  sacred  relic,  and  never  to  be  drawn,  except  against 
Turks,  *  Saracens,  and  Moors.  This  sword  has  been  lost ; 
Charles  Emmanuel,  duke  of  Savoy,  having  applied  for  it 
to  the/  heirs  of  Bayard,  without  being  able  to  procure  it. 

Bayard  also  made  an  expedition  into  Piedmont,  where 
he  -took  Prosper  Colonnes,  the  pope's  lieutenant-general, 
prisoner.  Chabannes,  who  was  inarsbal  of  France,  and 
Humbercourt  and  d'Aubigny,  two  general  officers,  all  much 
superior  in  rank  to  Bayard,  gave  up  the  honour  of  conduct- 
ing the  expedition  to  him,  and  served  in  it  under  his  or- 
ders. But  the  defence  of  Mezieres  completed  the  military 
reputation  of  this  extraordinary  man.  This  place  was  far 
from  being  in  a  condition  to  sustain  a  siege,  and  it  had 
been  resolved  in  a  council  of  war  to  burn  it,  and  ruin  the 
adjacent  country,.,  that  the  enemy  might  fiud  neither  shel- 
ter nor  subsistence.  But  Bayard  opposed  this  resolution^ 
and  told  the  king  that  no  place  was  weak  which  had  honest 
men  to  defend  it  He  then  offered  to  undertake  its  de- 
fence, and  engaged  to  give  a  good  account  of  it  His  pro- 
posal was  accepted  ;  and  he  went  immediately  and  locked 
himself  up  in  the  town.  Ttoo  days  after  he  had  entered  it, 
.  the  count  de  Nassau,  and  capt  de  Sickengen  invested  the 
place  with  40,000  men.  Bayard  so  animated  his  soldiers, 
sowed  such  dissention  between,  the  two  generals  who  be- 
sieged him,  and  so  effectually  defeated  all  the  attempts  of 
the  Imperialists,  that  in  three  weeks  he  obliged  them  to 
Taise  the  siege,  with  the  loss  of  many  men,  and  without 
once  making  the  assault.  '  AH  France  now  resounded  with 
the  praises  of  Bayard  :  the  king  received  him  at  Fervagues 
with  caresses  "and  encomiums  of  the  most  extraordinary 
kind  :  he  created  him  a  knight  of  his  own  order,  and  gave 
him,  by  way  of  distinction,  a  company  of  an  hundred 
men  armed  in  chief,  which  was  scarce  ever  given  but  to 
princes  of  the  blood. 

In  1523,  Bayard  followed  admiral  Bonnivet  into  Italy, 
and,  in  a  defeat  which  the  French  suffered  near  Rebec  in 


BAYARD.  207 

April  1524,  he  received  a  musket- shot  in  the  reins,  which' 
broke  the  spinal  bone.     The  moment  he  was  struck  he  pro- 
nounced himself  a  dead  man,  kissed  the  guard  of  his  sword, 
which  had  the  figure  of  a  cross,  and  recommended  himself 
to  God  in  prayer.     He  then  ordered  them  to  lay  him  un- 
der a  tree,  with  his  face  towards  the  enemy,  and  to  sup- 
port his  head  by  placing  a  stone  under  it,  which  he  saw 
lying  upon  the  ground.     "  Having  never  yet  turned  my 
back  upon  an  enemy,"  said  he,  "  I  will  not  begin  the  last 
day  of  my  life.*'     He  desired  the  seigneur  d'Alegre  to  tell 
the  king  that  he  should  die  contented  because  he  died  in 
his  service,  and  that  he  regretted  nothing  but  that  with  his 
life  he  should  lose  the  power  of  serving  him  longer.     He 
then  made  his  military  testament,  and  confessed  himself. 
When  the  constable,  Charles  de  Bourbon,  who  pursued 
the  French  army  after  the  defeat,  came  up  to  the  spot  where 
Bayard  was  dying,  he  expressed  his  concern  to  see  him  in 
that  condition.     "  Alas,  captain  Bayard,  how  sorry  am  I 
to  see  you  thus !    I  have  always  loved  and  honoured  you 
for  your  wisdom  and  valour,  and  I  now  sincerely  pity  your 
misfortune." — "  Sir,"    said  Bayard,    "  I  thank  you  ;  but 
there  is  no  reason  why  you  should  pity  me  who  die  like  an 
honest  man  in  the  service  of  my  king,  though  there  is  great 
reason   to  pity  you  wl\o  are  carrying  arms  against  your 
prince,  your  country,  and  your  oath."     The  constable,  far 
from  taking  offence  at  the  freedom  of  Bayard's  address, 
endeavoured  to  justify  himself  by  motives  arising  from  the 
disgrace  he  had  endured  ;  but  Bayard  exhorted  him,  with 
a  feeble  and  faltering  voice,  to  reconcile  himself  to  his 
sovereign,  and  quit  the  part  which  he  had  unjustly  and 
precipitately  taken,  in  obedience  to  the  dictates  of  his  pas- 
sion.    Bayard  very  soon  after  expired,  ki  the  forty-eighth 
year  of  his  age,  and  was  buried  in  the  cathedral  of  Grenoble, 
with   great   funeral    honours.     Many   anecdotes  are  told 
highly   to  the  honour  of  Bayard's  courage,  disinterested 
spirit,  generosity,  and  presence  of  mind  ;  but  the  religion 
so  often  attributed  to  him,  seems  to  have  consisted  in  a  su- 
perstitious regard  to  forms  and  ceremonies ;  if,  for  exam- 
ple, before  fighting  a  duel,  he  heard  mass,  he  was  satis- 
fied with  the  propriety  of  his  conduct ;  but  this,  howiever, 
is  to  be  attributed  to  the  times  in  which  he  lived.     His 
life  was  first  written  by  Champier,  Paris,  1525,  4to.    2.  By 
one  of  his  secretaries,  1619,  4to.   3.  By  Lazare  Bocquillot, 
prior  of  Louval,  1702,  12mo;  and  4.  by  Guyard'de  Berville, 


208  BAYARD. 

1760,  12mo,  from  which  the  present  article  is  principally 
taken.  A  short,  but  well  written  memoir  of  him  was  pub- 
lished at  London  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  Stirling  in  1781.  * 

BAYER  (John)  was  a  German  lawyer  and  astronomer 
of  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  and  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  but  in  what  particular  year  or  place 
he  was  born,  is  not  certainly  known ;  however,  his  name 
will  be  ever  memorable  in  the  annals  of  astronomy,  on  ac- 
count of  that  great  and  excellent  work  which  he  first  pub- 
lished in  1603,  under  the  title  of  "  Uranometria,"  being  a 
complete  celestial  atlas,  or  large  folio  charts  of  all  the  con- 
stellations, with  a  nomenclature  collected  from  all  the  tables 
of  astronomy,  ancient  and  modern,  with  the  useful  inven- 
tion of  denoting  the  stars  in  every  constellation  by  the  let- 
ters of  the  Greek  alphabet,  in  their  order,  and  according 
*o  the  order  of  magnitude  of  the  stars  in  each  constellation. 
JBy  means  of  these  marks,  the  stars  of  the  heavens  may, 
with  as  great  facility,  be  distinguished  and  referred  to,  as 
the  several  places  of  the  earth  are  by  means  of  geographi- 
cal tables  ;  and  as  a  proof  of  the  usefulness  of  this  method, 
our  celestial  globes  and  atlasses  have  ever  since  retained  it; 
and  hence  it  is  become  of  general  use  through  all  the  lite- 
rary world ;  astronomers,  in  speaking  of  any  star  in  the 
constellation,  denoting  it  by  saying  it  is  marked  by  Bayer, 
af  or  ft  or  y,  &c. 

Bayer  lived  many  years  after  the  first  publication  of  this 
work,  which  he  greatly  improved  and  augmented  by  his 
constant  attention  to  the  study  of  the  stars.  At  length,  in 
1627,  it  was  republished  under  a  new  title,  viz,  "  Ccelum 
stellatum  Christianum,".  or  the  "  Christian  stellated  Hea- 
ven," or  the  "  Starry  Heavens  Christianized;"  for  in  this 
work  the  heathen  names  and  characters,  or  figures  of  the 
constellations,  were  rejected,  and  others,  taken  from  the 
scriptures,  were  inserted  in  their  stead,  to  circumscribe  the 
respective  constellations.  This  was  the  project  of  one  Ju- 
lius Schiller,  a  civilian  of  the  same  place.  But  this  attempt 
was  too  great  an  innovation  to  find  success,  or  a  general 
reception,  and  would  have  occasioned  great  confusion. 
And  we  even  find,  in  the  later  editions  of  this  work,  that 
the  ancient  figures  and  names  were  restored  again ;  at  least 
in  the  two  editions  of  1654  and  1661.  * 

1  See  also  Diet.  Hist.^-Moreri. 

*  MartiaVBiographia  Philosophica. — Hutton'a  Math;  Diet 


feAYER.  $W 

BAYER  (Theophilus  Siecfrid),  grandson  of  the  pre- 
ceding,  was  born  in  1694.     He  was  first  educated  at  Ko- 
nigsburgh,  where,  besides  philosophy  and  theology,  hd 
devoted   much  of  his  time  to  the  study  of  the  Oriental1 
languages,   under  some  rabbis,   and  under  Dr«  Abraham1 
Wolff,  professor  of  theology.      In   1713   he  began  thef 
study  of  the  Chinese  language,  but  his  severe  and  vat- 
interrupted  application  having  injured  his  health,  he  way 
recommended  to  try  change  of  -ail*.     With  this  view  be? 
went  to  Dantzic,  to  John  Sartorius,  professor  of  rhetoric, 
who  was  his  maternal  great«tmcle,  and  as  soon  as  he  wasc 
able  to  return  to  Konigsburgb,  he  went  through  his  dispu- 
tation, and  obtained  a  pension.     Soon  after,  he  went  tb* 
Berlin,  where  M.  Grabe,  a  privy-counsellor,  assisted  hint 
with  the  means  of  prosecuting  his  studies,  and  there  he* 
formed  an  intimacy  with  de  la  Croze,  Jablondri,  des  Vig~ 
noles,   Chauvin,  and  many  other  learned  men  of  the  time; 
At  Halle,  professor  Frank  introduced  him  to  Solomon  As* 
sadi,  whose  lessons  removed  many  of  the  difficulties  he  h*<f 
encountered  in  learning  the  Arabic ;  and  M.  Michaetis  aftdf 
Heineccrius  furnished  him  with  much  useful  information' 
respecting  the  Ethiopian  and  Greek  churches.    Fronr  Halle? 
he  went  to  Leipsic,  where,  in  Feb.  1717,  he  was  admitted 
to  the  degree  of  M.  A.     Here  M.  Sieber  permitted  him  the" 
free  use  of  his  fine  library,  and  M.  GoStze  gave  him  access' 
to  the  manuscripts  of  the  public  library,  of  which  he  made 
a  catalogue.     At  the  request  of  M.  Mencke  he  drew  up 
several  curious  articles  for  the  Leipsic  "Acta  eruditorum,? 
particularly  one  on  the  triumphal  arch  of  Trajan,  another 
on  the  Malabaric  new  Testament,  a  third  on  the  Coptic 
new  Testament,  &c.  with  all  which  Mencke  was  so  well  sa- 
tisfied, as  to  make  Mm  very  advantageous  offers  if  be  would 
consent  to  reside  at  Leipsic.     The  magistrates  of  Konigs- 
burgfa  wrote  to  him  at  the  same  time,  that  if  he  wished  to 
continue  his  travels,  his  expences  should  be  defrayed ;  but 
the  bad  state  of  his  health  obliged  him  to  return  home. 
Recovering  a  little,  he  went  to  Wirtemberg  and  Berlin, 
where  M.  de  la  Croze  gave  him  some  lessons  in  the  Coptic  ; 
and  at  Stettin  he  had  the  happiness  to  be  admitted  to  in- 
spect the  Chinese  collections  made  by  Andrew  Muller, 
which   are  preserved  there.     About  the  end  of  autumn 
1717,   having  returned  to  Konigsburgh,  the  magistrates 
appointed  him  librarian,   and  in   1720  and  1721  he  was 
chosen  co-rector  and  pro-rector  of  the  principal  college. 
Vol- IV.  P 


210  BAYER. 

About  the  beginning  of  1726,  he  was  invited  to  ReteYs- 
burgh  to  be  professor  of  Greek  and  Roman  antiquities. 
The  same  year  he  delivered  some  orations  in  the  presence 
of  the  empress  Catherine,  who  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
new  academy,  in  honour  of  the  coronation  of  Peter  II.  In 
1730  the  royal  academy  of  Berlin  enrolled  him  among  its 
members.  He  was  about  to  have  retired  to  Konigsburgb, 
with  his  family,  when  he  was  attacked  by  a  disorder  which 
proved  fatal,  Feb.  21,  1738.  Besides  a  number  of  philolo- 
gical and  antiquary  dissertations  in  the  literary  journals,  he 
published,  1.  "  Museum  Sinicum,  in  quo  Sinicae  Linguae  et 
Literature  ratio  explicatur ;  item  grammatica,  lexicon,  et 
diatribe  Sinicae  reperiuntur,"  Petrop.  1730,  2  vols.  8vo. 
The  first  volume  contains  the  grammar,  the  characters  cut 
on  numerous  copperplates.  The  lexicon,  in  the  second,  ia 
also  on  copperplates,  with  a  Latin  translation.  This  is  a 
work  of  singular  erudition,  and  the  most  perfect  we  have 
on  the  Chinese  language.  2.  "  Historia  regni  Graecorum 
Bactriani,"  ibid.  1738,  4to.  3.  "  Historia  Osrhoena  et 
Edessena  ex  nummis  illustrata,  in  qua  Edessae  urbis,  Os~ 
rhoeni  regni,  Abgarorum  regum,  &c.  fata  explicantur,"  ib. 
1734,  4to.  Many  of  his  academical  dissertations  were  pub- 
lished by  Christ.  Adolphus  Klotz,  under  the  title  of. 
v  Opuscula  ad  historiam  antiquam,  chronologiam,  geogra- 
phiam,  et  rem  nummariam  spectantia,"  Halle,  1768,  8vo. l 
BAYF  (John  Anthony  de  la  Neuville),  the  natural 
son  of  the  subject  of  the  next  article,  was  born  at  Venice  in 
1532,  during  his  father's  embassy  there,  and  studied  voider 
Ronsard,  making  particular  progress  in  the  Greek  tongue. 
He  devoted  himself  afterwards  to  French  poetry,  which  he 
disfigured  not  a  little  by  a  mixture  of  Greek  and  Latin 
words.  His  object  was  to  give  to  the  French  the  cadence 
and  measure  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  poetry,  in  which  he 
was  very  unsuccessful.  Cardinal  PeVron  said  of  him,  that 
he  was  a  good  man,  but  a  bad  poet.  He  set  his  own  verses, 
however,  to  music ;  not,  says  Dr.  Burney,  to  such  music  as 
might  be  expected  from  a  man  of  letters,  or  a  dilletanti, 
consisting  of  a  single  melody,  but  to  counterpoint,  or  mu- 
sic in  parts.  Of  this  kind  he  published,  in  1561,  "Twelve 
hymns  or  spiritual  songs;"  and,  in  1578,  several  books  of 
"  Songs,"  all  in  four  parts,  of  which  both  the  words  and  the 
music  were  his  own.     In  all  he  was  allowed  to  be  as  good 

>  Moreri.— Clarke's  Diet.  Biblt— Saiii  Qnomastiwik 


B  A  Y  t.  2ii 

&  musician  as  a  poet;  but  what  mostly  entitles  him  to  no- 
tice; is  his  having  established  a  musical  academy  at  Paris,* 
the  first  of  the  kind  ;  but  in  this  he  had  to  encounter  many 
difficulties.  The  court  was  for  itj  and  Charles  IX.  and 
Henry  IH.  frequently  attended  these  concerts;  but  the 
parliament  and  the  university  opposed  the  scheme  as  likely 
to  introduce  effeminacy  arid  immorality.  The  civil  wars 
bccasioned  their  being  discontinued,  but  they  were  long 
after  revived,  and  proved  the  origin  of  the  divertissements, 
the  masquerades,  and  balls,  which  formed  the  pleasures  of 
the  court  until  the  time  of  Louis  XIV.  Bayf  died  in  1592. 
His  poems  were  published  at  Paris  in  1573,  2  vols.  8vo,  and 
Consist  of  serious,  comic,  sacred,  and  profane  pieces ;  the 
first  volume  is  entitled  "  Euvres  en  rime,"  the  other  "  Les 
Jeux."  His  mode  of  spelling  is  as  singular  as  his  composi- 
tion, but  the  whole  are  now  fallen  into  oblivion. * 

BAYF  (Lazarus  de),  father  to  the  above,  a  gentleman 
of  family  in  Anjou,  was  educated  under  Budceus,  and 
brought  up  to  the  profession  of  the  bar.  Happening,  how- 
ever, to  go  to  Rome,  he  studied  Greek  under  Musurus,  a 
learned  Candiot,  and  pursued  it  with  such  pleasure  and 
success,  that  on  his  return  he  determined  to  devote  himself 
entirely  to  the  study  of  classical  and  polite  literature. 
From  this  design,  however,  he  was  partly  diverted  by 
Francis  I.  who  being  made  acquainted  with  his  merit,  sent 
him,  in  1531,  as  ambassador  to  Venice,  where  he  remained 
near  three  years,  and  formed  an  intrigue  with  a  lady  of  fa- 
ihily  in  that  place,  by  whom  he  had  the  subject  of  the  pre- 
ceding article.  After  his  return  to  Paris  he  was  made 
counsellor  of  parliament.  In  1539  he  was  sent  as  ambas- 
sador to  Germany,  and  about  1541  was  appointed  master  of 
the  requests.  The  abbeys  also  of  Grenetiere  and  Charroux' 
were  bestowed  upon  him.  Moreri  says,  that  in  1547  he 
assisted  at  the  funeral  of  Francis  I.  as  one  of  the  eight 
masters  of  the  requests;  but  Saxius"  says  that  he  died  in 
1-545.  In  order  to  make  his  countrymen  acquainted  with 
the  Greek  drama,  he  published  translations  into  French 
pfoetry,  of  the  "  Electra"  of  Sophocles,  1537,  8vo,  and  the 
"  Hecuba"  of  Euripides,  1550,  12mo.  His  original  works 
were  principally,  1.  "  De  re  vestiaria  liber,"  Basil,  1526, 
4to.     2.  u  Annotationes  in  Legem  II.  de  captivis  et*  post-. 

l  Moreri.— Burney's  Hist,  of  Music,  vol.  III. — Marchand,  see  Index, 

P  2 


2J2,  BAY  F. 

limwiio  teversis,  in  quibus  tractatur  de  re  navali,^  Pari*, 
1536,  4to,  and  often  reprinted  with  the  preceding  work,  as 
well  as  inserted  in  Gronovius'  Thesaurus.  He  also  trans- 
lated some  of  Plutarch's,  lives,  but  we  do  not  find  that  they 
wexe  published.  * 

BAYLE  (Francis),  a  learjped  French  physician  and  me- 
dical writer,  was  royal  professor  of,  philosophy  in  the  uni- 
versity of  Toulouse,  where  he  died,  Sept.  24,  1 709,  in  the 
eighty  -seventh  year  of  his.  age.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Eloreal  academy,  and  a  man. of  integrity,  always  more  ready- 
to  discern  merit  in  others,  thai)  ip  himself,  a  strict  discipli- 
narian, and,  through  many  unpleasant  vicissitudes,  a  truly 
Christian  philosopher.  As.  to  his  profession,  it  appears 
from  his  works  that  he  was  a  good  theorist,  as  well  as  a  suc- 
cessful practitioner.  Haller  pronounces  him  "  Iatrome- 
chanicus,  sed  ex  cautioribus."  His  works,  which  are  partly- 
ip  Latin  and  partly  iu  French,  were,  1,  "  Systema  generate 
philosophise,"  Toulouse,  1669,  8vo.  2.  "  Tractatus  de 
Appplexia,1'  ib.  1676,  12mo;  Hague,  1678.  3.  "  Disser- 
tations Medicae  tres,"  Toulouse,  1678,  fol.  4<  "  Disser- 
tationes  Physicae,"  Hague,  1678,  12mo<  5.  "  Dissertation 
nes  de  experientia  et  ratione  conjungenda  in  Pbysica,  Me- 
dicina,  et  Chirurgia,"  Paris,  1675;  Hague,  1678.  6. 
"Probleraata  Physica  et  Medica,"  ib.  1678,  12mo.  7- 
"  Histoire  Anatomique  d'une  grossesse  de  25  ans,"  Tou- 
louse, 1678,  12 mo.  8.  if>  Iustructiones  Physicae  ad  usum 
scholar  urn  accommodate,"  ibid.  1700,  3  vols.  4to.  9, 
"  Dissertatio  quaestiones  nonqullas  Physicas  et  Mecticas  ex-» 
planans,"  ibid.  1688,  12mp.  10.  "  Opuscula,"  ibid.  1701, 
4  to.  * 

BAYLE  (Peter).,  a  French  writer  who  once  made  a 
great  figure  in  the  literary  world,  was  bqrn  Nov.  18,  1647,, 
ajt  Cayla,  a.  small  town  in  the  county  of  Foix,  the  son  of 
John  Bayle,  a  Protestant  minister*  Peter  gave  early 
prooft  of  genius,  which  his  father  cultivated  with  the  ut- 
most care ;  he  himself  taught  him  the  Latin  and  Greek 
languages,  and  sent  him  to  the  Protestant  academy  at  Puy- 
laurens  in  1666.  The  same  year,  when  upon<a  visit  to  his 
father,  he  applied  so  closely  to  his  studies,  that  it  brought 
upon  him  an  illness  which  kept.hiu*  atCarla  above  eighteen 
months.  On  his  recovery  he  returned  to  Puy  laurens  to, 
prosecute  his  studies,  and  afterwards  he  went  to  Toulouse 

1  Moreri.— Saxii  Onomasticon.  «  Moreri.— Haller  and  Mangel. 


■B  A  Y  L  E.  ^213 

in  4669,  where  he  attended  the  lectures  in  the  Jesuits'  col- 
lege. The  controversial  books  which  xhe  read  at  Ptiylau- 
*ens  Taised  several  scruples  in  his  mind  in  regard  to  thfe 
f*rotestant  rdigion,  and  his  doubts  were  increased  by  some 
disputes  he  had  with  a  priest,  who  lodged  in  the  satire  house 
With  hkn  at  Toulouse.  He  thought  the  Protestant  tenets 
were  false,  because  he  could  not  answer  all  the  argument* 
raised  against  them ;  so  that  about  a  month  after  his  arrival 
at  Toulouse,  he  embraced  the  Roman  catholic  religion. 
This  gave  mwch  uneasiness  to  all  his  relations,  atid  Mr. 
Bertier,  bishop  of  Rieux,  rightly  judging,  that  after  this 
step  young  Bayle  had  no  reason  to  expect  any  assistance 
from  them,  took  upon  him  the  charge  of  his  maintenance. 
They  piqued  themselves  much,  at  Toulouse,  upon  ihfc  £c± 
cjuisition  of  so  promising  a  young  man.  When  it  came  to 
his  turn  to  defend  theses  publicly,  the  most  distinguished 
persons  of  the  clergy,  parliament,  and  city,  Yfpre  present; 
so  that  there  had  hardly  ever  been  seen  in  th§  university  a 
more  splendid  and  numerous  audience.  The  theses  were 
dedicated  to  the  Virgin,  and  adorned  with  s  her  picture, 
which  was  ornamented  with  several  emblematical  figures, 
representing  the  conversion  of  tjie  respondent. 

Some  time  after  Mr.  Bayle's  conversion,  Mr.  Naudis  de 
JJruguiere,  a  young  gentleman  of  great  wit  and  penetration, 
and  a  relation  of  his,  happened  to  come  to  Toulouse,  where 
fie  lodged  in  the  same  house  with  him.  They  disputed 
warmly  about  religion,  and  after  having  pushed  the  argu- 
ments on  both  sides  with  great  vigotif,  they  used  to  exa- 
mine them  oyer  again  coolly.  These  familiar  disputes 
often  puzzled  Mr.  Bayle,  and  made  him  distrust  several 
opinions  of  the  church  of  Rome ;  and  he  began  to  silspect 
that  he  had  embraced  them  too  precipitately.  Sortie  time 
after  Mr.  de  Pradals  came  to  Toulouse,  whom  Mr.  Bayle's 
father  had  desired  to  visit  him,  hoping  he  would  in  a  little 
time  gain  his  confidence ;  and  this  gentleman  so  fat  suc- 
ceeded, that  Bayle  one  day  owned  to  him  his  having  been 
too  hasty  in  entering  into  the  church  of  Rome,  since  he 
now  found  several  of  her  doctrines  contrary  to  reason  and 
scripture.  August  1670,  be  departed  secretly  from  Tou- 
louse, where  he  had  staid  eighteen  months,  and  retired  to 
Mafceres  in  the  Lauragais,  to  a  country-house  of  Mr.  du 
Vivie.  His  elder  brother  came  thither  the  day  after,  with 
some  ministers  of  the  neighbourhood;  and  next  day  Mr. 
Rival,   minister  of  Saverdun,  received  his  abjuration  in 


214  B  A  Y  L  E. 

presence  of  his  elder  brother  and  two  other  ministers,  after 
which  they  obliged  him  instantly  to  set  out  for  Geneva. 
Soon  after  hisarrival  here,  Mr.  de  Nonnandie,  a  syndic  of 
the  republic,  having  heard  of  his  great  character  and  abi- 
lities, employed  him  as  tutor  to  his  sons.  Mr.  Basnage 
at  that  time  lodged  with  this  gentleman,  and  it  was  here 
Mr.  Bayle  commenced  his  acquaintance  with  him.  When 
he  had  been  about  two  years  at  Geneva,  at  Mr.  Basnage' s 
recommendation  he  entered  into  the  family  of  the  count  de 
Dhona,  lord  of  Copet,  as  tutor  to  his  children ;  but  not 
liking  the  solitary  life  he  led  in  this  family,  he  left  it,  and 
went  to  Roan  in  Normandy,  where  he  was  employed  as  tu~ 
tor  to  a  merchant's  son ;  but  he  soon  grew  tired  of  this 
place  also.  His  great  ambition  was  to  be  at  Paris ;  he  went 
accordingly  thither  in  March  1675,  and,  at  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  marquis  de  Ruvigny,  was  chosen  tutor  to 
messieurs  de  Beringhen,  brothers  to  M.  de  Beringhen, 
counsellor  in  the  parliament  of  Paris. 

Some  months  after  his  arrival  at  Paris,  there  being  a  va-r 
cancy  of  a  professorship  of  philosophy  at  Sedan,  Mr.  Bas- 
iiage  proposed  Mr.  Bayle  to  Mr.  Jurieu,  who  promised  to 
serve  him  to  the  utmost  of  his  power,  and  desired  Mr. 
Basnage  to  write  to  hini  tp  copie  immediately  to  Sedan. 
But  Mr.  Bayle  excused  himself,  fearing  lest  if  it  should  be 
known  that  he  had  changed  his  religion,  which  was  a  se- 
cret to  every  body  in  that  country  but.  Mr.  Basnage,  it 
might  bring  him  into  trouble,  and  the  Roman  catholics 
from  thence  take  occasion  to  disturb  the  protestants  at 
Sedan.  Mr.  Jurieu  was  extremely  surprised  at  his  refusal ; 
and  even  when  Mr.  Basnage  communicated  the  reason,  he 
was  of  opinion  it  ought  not  to  hinder  Mr.  Bayle's  coming, 
since  he  and  Mr.  Basnage  being  the  only  persons  privy  tq 
the  secret,  Mr.  B?iyle  could  run  no  manner  of  danger.  Mr. 
Basnage  therefore  wrote  again  to  Mr.  Bayle,  and  prevailed 
with  him  to  come  to- Sedan.  He  hful  three  competitors, 
all  natives  of  Sedan,  the  friends  of  whom  endeavoured  to 
raise  prejudices  against  him  because  he  was  a  stranger. 
But  the  affair  being  left  to  be  determined  by  dispute,  and 
the  candidates  having  agreed  to  make  their  theses  without 
books  or  preparation,  Mr.  Bayle  defended  his  theses  with 
such  perspicuity  and  strength  of  argument,  that,  in  spite 
of  all  the  interest  of  his  adversaries,  the  senate  of  the  uni- 
versity determined  it  in  his  favour ;  and  nptwithstanding 


BAYLE.  213 

the  opposition  he  met  with  upon  his  first  coming  to  Sedan, 
bis  merit  soon  procured  him  universal  esteem. 

In  16S0,  an  affair  of  the  duke  of  Luxemburgh  made  a 
great  noise :  he  had  been  accused  of  impieties,  sorcery, 
and  poisonings,  but  wa6  acquitted,  and  the  process  against 
him  suppressed.  Mr.  Bayle,  having  been  at  Paris  during 
the  harvest- vacation,  had  heard  many  particulars  concern- 
ing this  affair,  and  immediately  composed  an  harangue  on 
the  subject,  wherein  the  marshal  is  supposed  to  vindicate 
himself  before  his  judges.  This  speech  is  a  smart  satire 
upon  the  duke  and  some  other  persons.  He  afterwards 
wrote  one  more  satirical,  by  way  of  criticism  upon  the 
harangue.  He  sent  these  two  pieces  to  Mr.  Minutoli,  de- 
siring his  opinion  of  them;* and,  that  he  might  speak  his 
mind  more  freely,  he  concealed  his  being  the  author. 
About  this  time  father  de  Valois,  a  Jesuit  of  Caen,  pub-  - 
lished  a  book,  wherein  he  maintained  that  the  sentiments 
of  M.  Des  Cartes  concerning  the  essence  and  properties  of 
body,  were  repugnant  to  the  doctrine  of  the  church,  and 
agreeable  to  the  errors  of  Calvin  on  the  subject  of  the  eu- 
charist.  Mr.  Bayle  read -this  performance,  and  judged  it 
well  done.  He  was  of  opinion  the  author  had  incontesta- 
bly  proved  the  point  in  question ;  to  wit,  that  the  princi- 
ples of  M.  Des  Cartes  were  contrary  to  the  faith  of  the 
church  of  Rome,  und  agreeable  to  the  doctrine  of  Calvin. 
He  took  occasion  from  thence  to  write  his  "  Sentimens  de 
M.  Des  Cartes  touchant  P essence,  &c."  wherein  he  main- 
tained the  principles  of  Des  Cartes,  and  answered  all  the 
arguments  by  which  father  de  Valois  had  endeavoured  to 
!         '      confute  them. 

The  great  comet,  which  appeared  December  1 660,  hav- 
ing filled  the  generality  of  people  with  fear  and  astonish- 
ment, induced  Mr.  Bayle  to  think  of  writing  a  letter  on 
this  subject  to  be  inserted  in  the  Mercure  Galant;  but, 
finding  he  had  such  abundance  of  matter  as  exceeded  the 
bounds  of  a  letter  for  that  periodical  work,  he  resolved  to 
print  it  by  itself ;  and  accordingly  sent  it  to  M.  de  Vise.  He 
desired  M.  de  Vise  to  give  it  to  his  printer,  and  to  procure 
a  licence  for  it  from  M.  de  la  Reynie,  lieutenant  of  the  po- 
lice, or  a  privilege  from  the  king  if  that  was  necessary ;  but 
M.  de  Vise  returned  for  answer,  that  M.  de  la  Reynie,  being 
unwilling  to  take  upon  him  the  consequences  of  printing  it, 
it  would  be  necessary  to  obtain  the  approbation  of  the  doc- 
tors before  a  royal  privilege  could  be  applied  for ;  which 


%IS  B  A  Y  L  E. 

being  a  tedious  and  difficult  affair,  Mr.  Bayle  gave  orer  aQ 
thoughts  of  having  it  printed  at  Paris. 

The  protestants  in  France  were  at  this  time  in  a  dis- 
tressed situation ;  not  a  year  passed  without  some  infringe* 
ppent  of  the  edict  of  Nantz,  and  it  was  at  length  resolved 
to  shut  up  their  academies.  That  at  Sedan  was  accord- 
ingly suppressed  by  an  arret  of  Lewis  XIV.  dated  the  9th 
of  July,  1631.  Mr.  Bayle  staid  six  or  seven  weeks  at 
Sedan  after  the  suppression  of  the  academy,  expecting 
letters  of  invitation  from  Holland ;  but  not  receiving  any 
during  that  time,  be  left  Sedan  the  2d  of  September,  and 
^rriyed  at  Paris  the  7th  of  the  same  month,  not  being  de- 
termined whether  he  should  go  to  Rotterdam  or  England, 
or  continue  in  France ;  but  whilst  he  was  in  this  uncer- 
tainty he  received  an  invitation  to  Rotterdam,  for  which 
place  he  accordingly  set  out,  and  arrived  there  the  30th 
of  Octpber,  \6&l.  He  was  appointed,  professor  of  philo- 
sophy and  history  ;  with  a  salary  of  five  hundred  guilders 
per  annum.  The  year  following  he  published  his  "  Let- 
ter cqneerning  Comets ;"  and  father  Maimbourg  having 
pqblished  about  this  time  his  History  of  Calvinism,  wherein 
he  endeavours  to.  draw  upon  the  protestants  the  contempt 
and  resentment  of  the  catholics,  Mr.  Bayle  wrote  a  piece 
to  confute  his  history :  in  this  he  has  inserted  several  cir- 
cumstances relating  to  the  life  and  disputes  of  Mr.  Maim- 
bourg, and  has  given  a  sketch  of  his  character,  which  is 
thought  to  have  a  strong  likeness. 

The  reputation  which  Mr.  Bayle  had  now  acquired,  in- 
duped  the  states  of  Friezland,  in  1684,  to  offer  him  a  pro- 
fessorship in  their  university ;  but  he  wrote  them  a  letter 
of  thanks,  and  declined  the  offer.  This  same  year  he  be- 
gan to  publish  his  "  Nouvelles  de  la  republique  des  let- 
tres ;"  and  the  year  following  he  wrote  a  second  part  to , 
his  'f  Censure  on  the  History  of  Mr.  Maimbourg." 

In  1686,  he  was  drawn  into  a  dispute  respecting  the  fa* 
mous  Christina  queen  of  Sweden :  in  his  Journal  for  April, 
he  took  notice  of  a  printed  letter,  supposed  to  have  been 
written  by  her  Swedish  majesty  to  the  chevalier  de  Terlon, 
wherein  she  condemns  the  persecution  of  tho  protestants 
in  France.  He  inserted  the  letter  itself  in  his  Journal  for 
May,;  \au4in  that  of  June  following  he  says:  "  What  we 
hinted  at  in  our  last  month,  is  con6ra*ed  to  us  from  day  to 
day,  that  Christina  is  the  real  author  of  the  letter  concern- 
ing the  persecutions  in  France  whip.h  is  ascribed  to  her : 


B  A  Y  L  E.  217 

it  is  a  rfega&inder  of  protestantism."  Mr.  Bayle  received 
*n  anonymous  letter,  the  author  of  which  says,  that  he 
wrote  to  him  of  his  own  accord,  being  in  duty  bound  to  it, 
as  a  servant  of  the  queen.  He  complains  that  Mr.  Bayle, 
speaking  of  her  majesty,  called  her  only  Christina,  with- 
out any  title ;  be  finds  also  great  fault  with  his  calling  the 
letter,  "  a  remainder  of  protestantism."  He  blames  him 
likewise  for  inserting  the  Words  "  I  am/'  in  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  letter.  "  These  words,  says  this  anonymous 
writer,  are  not  her  majesty's ;  a  queen,  as  she  is,  cannot 
employ  these  words  but  with  regard  to  a  very  few  persons, 
and  Mr.  de  Terlon  is  not  of  that  number.9'  Mr.  Bayle 
wrote  4  vindication  of  himself  as  to  these  particulars,  with 
which  the  author  of  the  anonymous  letter  declared  himself 
satisfied,  excepting  as  to  what  related  to  "  the  remainder 
of  protestantism-"  He  would  not  admit  of  the  defence 
with  regard  to  that  expression  ->  and,  in  another  letter,  ad- 
vised him  to  retract  it.  He  adds  in  a  postscript,  "  You 
mention  in  your  Journal  of  August,  a  second  letter  of  the 
queen,  which  you  scruple  to  publish.  Her  majesty  would 
be  glad  to  see  that  letter,  and  you  will  do  a  thing  agree- 
able to  her,  if  you  would  send  it  to  her.  You  might  take 
this  opportunity  of  writing  to  her  majesty.  This  counsel 
may  be  of  some  use  to  you ;  do  not  neglect  it."  Mr.  Bayle 
look  the  hint,  and  wrote  a  letter  to  her  majesty,  dated  the 
i4£h  of  November  1686  ;  to  which  the  queen,  on  the  14th 
of  December,  wrote  the  following  answer : 

"  Mr.  Bayle, 

"  I  have  received  your  excuses,  and  am  willing  you 
should  know  by  this  letter,  that  I  am  satisfied  with  them, 
I  ^m  obliged  to  the  zeal  of  the  person,  who  gave  you  oc- 
casion of  writing  to  me  ;  for  I  am  very  glad  to  know  you* 
You  express  so  much  respect  and  affection  for  me,  that  I. 
pardon  you  sincerely ;  and  I  would  have  you  know,  that 
nothing  gave  me  offence  but  that  '  remainder  of  protestan- 
tism,9 of  which  you  accused  me.  I  am  very  delicate  on 
that  head,  because  nobody  can  suspect  me  of  it,  without 
lessening  my  glory,  and  injuring  me  in  the  most  sensible 
manner.  You  would  do  well,  if  you  should  even  acquaint 
the  public  with  the  mistake  you  have  made,  and  with  your 
regret  for  it.  This  is  all  that  remains  to  be  done  by  you, 
in  ojfder  to  deserve  my  being  entirely  satisfied  with  you. 


#     21S  B  A  Y  L  E. 

"As  to  the  letter  which  you  have  sent  me,  it  is  mine 
without  doubt ;  and  since  you  tell  me  that  it  is  printed, 
you  will  do  me  a  pleasure  if  you  send  me  some  copies  of 
it.  As  I  fear  nothing  in  France,  so  neither  do  I  fear  any 
thing  at  Rome.  My  fortune,  my  blood,  and  even  my  life, 
are  entirely  devoted  to  the  service  of  the  church ;  but  I 
flatter  nobody,  and  will  never  speak  any  thing  but  the 
truth.  I  am  obliged  to  those  who  have  been  pleased  to 
publish  my  letter ;  for  I  do  not  at  all  disguise  my  senti- 
ments. I  thank  God,  they  are  too  noble  and  too  honour- 
able *to  be  disowned.  However,  it  is  not  true,  that  this 
letter  was  written  to  one  of  my  ministers.  As  1  have  every 
where  enemies,  and  persons  who  envy  me,  so  I  in  all 
places  have  friends  and  servants ;  and  I  have  possibly  as 
many  in  France,  notwithstanding  the  court,  as  any  where 
in  the  world.  This  is  purely  the  truth,  and  you  may  re- 
gulate yourself  accordingly. 

u  But  you  shall  not  get  off  so  cheap  as  you  imagine.  I 
will  enjoin  you  a  penance ;  which  is,  that  you  will  hence- 
forth take  the  trouble  of  sending  me  all  curious  books  that 
shall  be  published  in  Latin,  French,  Spanish,  or  Italian, 
on  whatever  subject  or  science,  provided  they  are  worthy 
of  being  looked  into  ;  I  do  not  even  except  romances  or 
satires :  and  above  all,  if  there  are  any  books  of  chemistry, 
I  desire  you  may  send  them  to  me  as  soon  as  possible.  Do 
not  forget  likewise  to  send  me  your  *  Journal.*  I  shall 
order  that  you  be  paid  for  whatever  you  lay  out,  do  but 
send  me  an  account  of  it.  This  will  be  the  most  agree- 
able and  most  important  service  that  can  be  done  me. 
May  God  prosper  you.  Christina  Alexandra." 

It  now  only  remained  that  Mr.  Bayle  should  acquaint 
the  public  with  the  mistake  he  had  made,  and  his  regret 
for  it,  in  order  to  merit  that  princess's  entire  satisfaction. 
This  he  did  in  his  Journal  of  January,  1687.  "  We  have 
been  informed,  to  our  incredible  satisfaction,"  says  he, 
"  that  the  queen  of  Sweden  having  seen  the  ninth  article 
of  the  Journal  of  August,  1686,  has  been  pleased  to  be 
satisfied  with  the  explanation  we  gave  there.  Properly,  it 
was  only  the  words  '  remainder  of  protestanism,'  which 
had  the  misfortune  to  offend  her  majesty  j  for,  as  her  ma- 
jesty is  very  delicate  on  that  subject,  and  desires  that  all 
the  world  should  know,  that  after  having  carefully  exa- 
mined the  different  religions,  she  had  found  none  to  be 
trite  but  the  Roman  catholic,  and  that  she  has  heartily  em- 


B  A  Y  L  E.  2lf 

traced  it;  it  was  injurious  to  her  glory  to  give  occasion 
for  the  least  suspicion  of  her  sincerity.  We  are  therefore 
very  sorry  that  we  have  mpde  use  of  an  expression,  which 
has  been  understood  in  a  sense  so  very  different  from  our 
intention  >  and  we  would  have  been  very  far  from  making 
use  of  it,  if  we  had  foreseen  that  it  was  liable  to  any  am* 
biguity  :  for,  besides  the  respect  which  we,  together  with 
all  the  world,  owe  to  so  great  a  queen,  who  has  been  the 
admiration  of  the  universe  from  her  earliest  days,  we  join 
with  the  utmost  zeal  in  that  particular  obligation  which  all 
men  of  letters  are  under  to  do  her  homage,  because  of  the 
honour  she  has  done  the  sciences,  by  being  pleased  tho- 
roughly to  examine  their  beauties,  and  to  protect  them  in 
a  distinguishing  manner." 

The  persecution  which  the  protestants  at  this  time  suf- 
fered in  France  affected  Mr.  Bayle  extremely.  He  made 
occasionally  some  reflections  on  their  sufferings  in  his 
Journal;  and  he  wrote  a  pamphlet  also  on  the  subject. 
Some  time  after  he  published  bis  "  Commentaire  philoso- 
phique,"  upon  these  words,  "  Compel  them  to  come  in  ;'* 
against  compulsion  in  matters  of  religion ;  but  the  great 
application  he  gave  to  this  and  his  other  works,  threw  him 
into  a  fit  of  sickness,  which  obliged  him  to  discontinue  his 
Literary  Journal  Being  advised  to  try  a  change  of  air,  he 
left  Rotterdam,  and  went  to.Cleves ;  whence,  after  having 
continued  some  time,  he  removed  to  Aix  la  Chapelle,  and 
thence  returned  to  Rotterdam.  In  1690,  the  famous 
book,  entitled,  "  Avis  aux  Refugiez,"  &c.  made  its  ap- 
pearance :  Mr.  Jurieu,  who  took  Mr.  Bayle  for  the  author, 
wrote  a  piece  against  it,  and  prefixed  an  advice  to  the 
public,  wherein  he  calls  Mr.  Bayle  a  profane  person,  and 
a  traitor  engaged  in  a  conspiracy  against  the  state.  As 
soon  as  Mr.  Bayle  had  read  this  accusation,  he  went  to  the 
grand  schout  of  Rotterdam,  and  offered  to  go  to  prison, 
provided  his  accuser  would  accompany  him,  and  undergo 
the  punishment  he  deserved,  if  the  accusation  was  found 
unjust.  He  published  also  an  answer  to  Mr.  JurieU's 
charge;  and  as  his  reputation,  and  even  his  life  was  at 
stake,  in  case  the  accusation  of  treason  was  proved,  he 
therefore  thought  himself  not  obliged  to  keep  any  terms 
with  his  accuser,  and  attacked  him  with  the  utmost  seve- 
rity. Mr.  Jurieu  applied  to  the  magistrates  of  Amsterdam, 
who  advised  him  to  a  reconciliation  with  Mr.  Bayle,  and 
^nj pined  them  not  to  publish  any  thing  against  each  other 


*20  BAYLE. 

till  it  was  examined  by  Mr.  Boyer,  the  pensioner  of  Rot- 
terdam. But,  notwithstanding  this  prohibition,  Mr.  Jurieti 
attacked  Mr.  Bayie  again,  and  drew  from  him  to  write  a 
new  vindication  of  his  character  and  principles. 

In  November,  1690,  Mr.  de  Beauval  advertised  m  his 
Journal,  a  scheme  for  a  "  Critical  Dictionary/*  This  was 
the  work  of  Mr.  Bayle.  The  articles  of  the  three  first  let* 
ters  of  the  alphabet  were  already  prepared ;  but  a  dispute 
happening  betwixt  him  and  Mr.  de  Beauval,  be  for  some 
time  laid  the  work  aside.  Nor  did  he  resume  it  rift  May 
1692,  'when  he  published  his  scheme ;  but  the  public  not 
approving  of  his  plan,  he  threw  it  into  a  different  form, 
and  the  first  volume  was  published  in  August,  1695,  the 
second  the  October  following.  The  work  was  extremely 
well  Deceived  by  the  public ;  but  it  engaged  him  in  fresh 
disputes,  particularly  with  Mr.  Jurieu  and  the  abb6  Renau- 
dot.  Mr.  Jurieu  published  a  piece,  wherein  be  endea- 
voured to  engage  the  ecclesiastical  assemblies  to  condemn 
the  Dictionary :  he  presented  it  to  the  senate  sitting  at 
Delft ;  but  they  took  no  notice  of  the  affair.  The  con* 
sitory  of  Rotterdam  granted  Mr.  Bayle  a  hearing;  and 
after  having  heard  his  answers  to  their  remarks  en  his  Die* 
tionary,  declared  themselves  satisfied,  and  advised  him  to 
communicate  this  to  the  public.  Mr.  Jurieu  made  another 
attempt  with  the  consistory  in  169S;  and  so  far  he  pre- 
vailed, that  they  exhorted  Mr.  Bayle  to  be  more  cautious 
about  his  principles  in  the  second  edition  of  his  Dictionary  ; 
which  was  published  in  1702,  with  many  additions  and  im- 
provements. 

Mr.  Bayle  was  a  most  laborious  am}  indefatigable  writer. 
In  one  of  his  letters  to  Des  Maizeaux,  he  says,  that  since 
his  20th  year  he  hardly  remembers  to  have  had  any  leisure. 
W&  intense  application  contributed  perhaps  to  impair  his 
constitution,  for  it  soon  began  to  decline.  He  had  a  decay 
of  the  lungs,  which  weakened  him  considerably ;  and  as 
this  was  a  distemper  which  bad  cut  off  several  of  his  family, 
he  judged  it  to  be  mortal,  and  would  take  no  medicines. 
He  died  the  28th  of  December  1 706,  after  he  had  been 
writing  the  greatest  part  of  the  day.  He  wrote  several 
books  besides  what  we  have  mentioned,  many  of  which 
were  in  his  own  defence  against  attacks  from  the  abb6  Re- 
Baudot,  M.  le  Clerc,  M.  Jaquelot,  and  others ;  a  particu- 
lar account  of  his  work?  may  be  seen  in  the  sixth  volume 
of  Niceron.    Among  the  productions  which  do  honour  to 


BAYLR  22\ 

the  age  of  Lewis  XIV.  M.  Voltaire  has  not  omitted  the 
Critical  Dictionary  of  our  author :  It  is  the  first  work  of  thd 
kind,  he  says,  in  which  a  nan  may  learn  to  think.  He 
censures  indeed  those  articles  which  contain  only  a  detail 
of  minute  facts,  as  unttorthy  either  of  Bayle,  an  under- 
standing reader,,  or  posterity.  In  placing,  him,  continue* 
the  same  author,  amongst  the  writers  who  do  honour  to  the 
age  of  Lewis  XIV.  although  a  refugee  in  Holland,  I  only 
conform  to  the  dearee  of  the  parliament  of  Toulouse;, 
which,  when  it  declared  his  will  valid  in  Franco,  notwith- 
standing the  rigour  of  the  laws,  expressly  said,  "  that  such* 
a  man.  could  not  be  considered  as  a  foreigner.'* 

The  opinion  of  Voltaire,  however,  which  we  hare  pre- 
served (as  we  have  done  the  article  of  Bayle  nearly  as-  it 
stood  in  our  last  edition),  must  not  be  allowed  much  weight 
in  a  question  where  religion  or  moral?  are  concerned, 
Bayle  has  been,  hailed  as  one- of  those  who  introduced  the 
spirit  of  free  inquiry ;  and  while  this  merit  majrbe  allowed 
him,  we  may  add  that  he  has  exhibited  in  his  own  person, 
the  consequences  of  pushing  free  inquiry  beyond  all  rea- 
sonable and  necessary  bounds.  But  it  would  have  beem 
more  just  to  have  said  that  he  was  one  of  those  who  have' 
conducted  an  opposition  to  the  truths  of  revealed  religion 
by.  the  means  of  sarcasm  and  impertinence,  instead  of  fair 
argument;  and  except  the  French  Encyclopedic,  there  is 
not  perhaps  any  book  so  likely  to  unsettle  the  minds  of 
young  readers  as  his,  celebrated  Dictionary.  Nor  is  this 
the  only  objection  that  may  be  urged  against  it  Bayle 
has  been  praised  for  his  morality  in  private  life ;  but  what 
are  we  to  think  of  the  morals  of  a. man,  who  not  only  takes 
every  opportunity  that  may  lay  in  his  way  to  introduce  ob<* 
scene  discussions*  quotations,  and  allusions,  but  even  per- 
petually travels  out  of  his  way  in  search  of  them,  who  de« 
lights  in  accumulating  the  anecdotes  and  imagery  of  vice, 
and  presenting!  them  to  his  readers  in  every  shape  i  Con- 
sidered in  a  critical  light,  this*  Dictionary  may  be  allowed 
to.  form  a  vast  mass  of  information,  but  the  plan  is  radically 
bad.  It  has. been  said  that  be  wrote  it  merely  for  the  sake 
of  the  notes,  which  had  accumulated  in  his  common-place 
book ;  hence  the  text  bears  a  very  small  proportion  to  the 
notes  suspended  from  it,  and  the  reader's  attention  is  per- 
petually diverted  from  the  narrative  to  attend,  not  always 
to  what  may  throw  light  on  the  object  of  the  text,  but  to 
Mr*  Bayle' s  tattle  and  gossip  collected  from  various  quar~ 


222  B  A  Y  L  £ 

ters,  and  from  his  own  prolific  and  prurient  imaginatidrf/ 
It  is  much  to  be  regretted  th&t  his  reputation  was  such  a^ 
to  render  this  mode  of  writing  Biography  a  fashion,  and 
particularly  that  it  was  followed  in  our  Biographia  Britan- 
nica,  in  many  parts  of  which  Bayle's  garrulity  has  been5 
exactly  followed.  With  respect  to  Bayle's  other  works,  a 
reference  for  their  titles  to  Niceron  may  be  sufficient.' 
They  are  now  in  little  repute,  and  his  fame  must  pririci-4* 
pally  stand  or  fall  on  the  merits  of  his  Dictionary.  * 

BAYLIS  (William),  one  of  the  physicians  to  the  king 
of  Prussia,  and  member  of  the  colleges  of  physicians  of 
London  and  Edinburgh,  was  author  of  u  An  essay  on  the' 
Bath  Waters,  1757  ;**  "  A  narrative  of  facts  demonstrating 
the  existence  and  cause  of  a  Physical  Confederacy,  made 
known  in  the  printed  letters  of  Dr.  Lucas  and  Dr.  Oliver, 
1757,"  and  "  An  historical  account  of  the  General  Hos- 
pital or  Infirmary  in  the  city  of  Bath,"   1758,  all  whichr* 
excited  a  contest  between  him  and  his  medical  brethren,' 
who  seemed  to  have  the  public  on  their  side,  and  he  wasr 
excluded  from  consultations  at  Bath,  where  as  well  as  in 
London  he  formerly  practised  physic.     It  is  related  of  him 
that  when  he  was  .first  introduced  to  the  late  king  of  Prus- 
sia, to  whom  much  had  been  said  of  his  medical  skill,  the 
king  observed  to  him,  "  That  to  have  acquired  so  much 
experience,  he  must  necessarily  have  killed  a  great  many 
people:"     To  which  the  doctor  replied,  "  Pas  tant  que 
votre  majesty," — "  Not  so  many  as  your  majesty."     He 
died  in  1787  at  Berlin,  and  left  his  library  and  medals  ta 
the  king  of  Prussia,  in  the  service  of  which  court  he  had 
lived  for  many  years.     It  was  at  the  German  Spa  where  his- 
talents  were  first  noticed.     Previously  to  his  going  abroad  • 
he  is  said  to  have  lived  in  a  very  splendid  manner  sit  Eves- 
ham in  Worcestershire,  and  was  once  a  candidate  for  a 
seat  in  the  British  parliament,  but  without  success.  * 

BAYLY  (Lewis),  an  English  prelate,  was  born  at  Caer- 
marthen  in  Wales,  and  educated  at  the  university  of  Oxford; 
but  in  what  college,  or  what  degrees  he  took  is  uncertain* 
We  find  only  that  he  was  admitted,  as  a  member  of  Exe- 
ter college,  to  be  reader  of  the  sentences  in  1611;  about 
which  time  he  was  minister  of  Evesham  in  Worcestershire, 
chaplain  to  prince  Henry,   and  rector  of  St.  Matthew's, 

1  Life  by  Des  Maizeaux  prefixed  to  his  Dictionary,— -Gen.  Diet.— Saxii  0b»- 
masticon. 
•  <ievt.  Mag.  1787.— Lond.  Chron.  May,  17S7. 


BAYLY.  *23 

Friday-street,  in  London.  Two  years  after  lie  took  his  de- 
grees in  divinity  ;  and  being  very  much  celebrated  for  his 
talent  in  preaching,  was  appointed  one  of  the  chaplains  to 
king  James  I.  who  nominated  him  to  the  bishopric  of  Ban- 
gor in  the  room  of  Dr.  H.  Rowlands,  in  which  see  he  was 
consecrated  at  Lambeth,  Dec.  8,  1616.  On  the  15th  of 
July  1621,  he  was  committed  to  the  Fleet,  but  was  soon 
after  discharged.  It  is  not  certain  what  was  the  reason  of 
his  commitment,  unless,  as  Mr.  Wood  observes,  it  was  on 
account  of  prince  Charles's  intended  marriage  with  the  In* 
fanta  of  Spain.  He  died  in  the  beginning  of  1632,  and 
was  interred  in  the  church  of  Bangor.  His  fame  rests 
chiefly  on  his  work  entitled  "  The  practice  of  Piety,"  of 
which  there  have  been  a  prodigious  number  of  editions  in 
12mo  and  8vo,  that  of  1735  being  the  fifty-ninth.  It  was 
also  translated  into  Welsh  and  French  in  1633,  and  such 
was  its  reputation,  that  John  D'Espagne,  a  French  writer, 
and  preacher  at  Somerset-house  chapel  in  1656,  com- 
plained, that  the  generality  of  the  common  people  paid' 
too  great  a  regard  to  it,  and  considered  the  authority  of  it 
as  almost  equal  to  that  of  the  Scriptures.  This  book  was 
the  substance  of  several  sermons,  which  Dr.  Bayly  preach- 
ed while  he  was  minister  of  Evesham.  But  Lewis  du  Mou- 
lin, who  was  remarkable  for  taking  all  opportunities  of 
reflecting  upon  the  bishops  and  church  of  England,  in  his 
"  Patronus  Bonae  Fidei,  &c."  published  in  8vo,  1672,  as- 
serts, that  "  this  book  was  written  by  a  Puritan  minister, 
and  that  a  bishop,  whose  life  was  not  very  chaste  and  re- 
gular, after  the  author's  death,  bargained  with  his  wiaow 
for  the  copy,  which  he  received,  but  never  paid  her  the 
money ;  that  he  afterwards  interpolated  it  in  some  places, 
and  published  it  as  his  own."  It  is  not  very  probable,  how- 
ever, that  a  man  "  whose  life  was  not  very  chaste  and  re- 
gular," should  have  been  anxious  to  publish  a  work  of  this 
description;  but  Dr.  Kennet,  in  his  Register,  has  very 
clearly  proved  that  bishop  Bayly  was  the  real  author. l 

BAYLY  (John),  son  of  the  above,  born  in  Hereford- 
shire, in  1595,  entered  of  Exeter  college  in  1611,  and  be- 
came fellow  the  year  following.  His  tutor  was  Dr.  Pri- 
deaux.  After  completing  his  master's  degree,  he  went 
into  orders,  and  had  some  church  preferment  from  his  fa- 
ther.    He  was  afterwards  one  of  his  majesty's  chaplains, 

*  Bio$.  Brit— Wood's  Atfieiw,  vol.  1,-rKcnntt's  Register,  p.  359. 


5*2*  BAYLY. 

and  guardian  of  Christ's  hospital  in  Rutbyn.  fie  ptfbtf  sh-* 
ed  "  The  Angel  Guardian/1  a  collection  of  sermons,  Lon> 
don,  1630,  4to,  and  some  others  which  Wood  has  not  eiVor-r 
merated,  nor  does  he  give  any  account  of  his  death. ' 

BAYLY    (Thomas),,   the  fourth  and  youngest  son  6t 
bishop  Bayly,  vras   educated   at  Cambridge*  atnd  having 
commenced  B.  A.  was  presented   to  the  sobdeariery  of 
Wells  by  Charles  I.  in  1633.     In   1644,  he  retired  withf 
other  loyalists  to  Oxford,  where,  proceeding  in  his  degrees 
he  was  created  D.  D.  and  two  years  after  we  find-  him  will* 
the.  marquis  of  Worcester,  in  Ragfond  castler  after  the  bat- 
tle of  Naseby.     When  this  was-  surrendered  to*  the  parlia- 
ment army,  on  which  occasion  he  was  employed  to  dfa\fr 
up  the  articles,  he  travelled  into*  France  and  othef  coun- 
tries ;  but  retwned  the  year  alter  the  king's  death,  and! 
published  at  London,  in  8vo,  a  book,  entitled  "  Certafrneti 
Religiosum,  or  a  conference  between  king  Charles  I.  and 
Henry  late  marquis  of  Worcester,  concerning  religion,  ift 
Bagland  castle,  anno  1646."    But  this  conference  was  be- 
lieved to  have  no  real  foundation,  and  considered  as  nothing 
else  than  a  prelude  to  the  declaring  of  himself  a  papist. 
The  same  year,  1649,  he  published  "The  Royal  Charter 
granted  unto  kings  by  God  himself,  &c.  to  which  is  added,' 
a  treatise,  whereifi  is  proved,  that  episcopacy  is  Jure  divu 
no"  8vo.     These  writings  giving  offence,  occasioned  him 
to  be  committed  to  Newgate ;  whence  escaping,  he  re- 
tired to  Holland,  and  became  a  zealous  Rorilan  catholic. 
During  his  confinement  in  Newgate,  he  wrote  a  piece  en- 
titled, "  Herba  Parietis,  or  the  wall-flower,  as  it  grows 
out  of  the  stone-chamber  belonging  to  the  metropolitan 
prison  ;  being  an  history,  which  is  partly  true,  partly  ro- 
mantic,   morally  divine;    whereby  a  marriage  between' 
reality  and  fancy  is  solemnized  by  divinity,"   Lond.  1650,> 
in  a  thin  folio*     Some  time  after,,  he  left  Holland,  add  set- 
tled at  Douay;  where  he  published  another  book,  entitled 
"  The  end  to  controversy  between  the  Roman  catholic  and 
Protestant  religions,  justified  by  all  the  several  manner  of 
ways,  whereby  all  kinds  of  controversies,  of  what  nature 
soever,  are  usually  or  can  possibly  be  determined,"  Douay,' 
1€54,  4to,  and  afterwards  "  Dr.  Bayly's  Challenge."    At 
last  this  singular  person  went  to  Italy,  where  he  lived  and 
di*d  extremely  poor  (although  Dodd  says*  that  he  died  ia! 

*  Wood's  Ath*  vol.  I, 


BAYLY.  225 

r 

cardinal  Ottoboni's  family) :  for  Dr.  Trevor,  fellow  of  Mer- 
ton  college,  who  was  in  Italy  in  1659,  told  Mr.  Wood  seve- 
ral times,  that  Dr.  Bayly  died  obscurely  in  an  hospital, 
and  that  he  had  seen  the  place  where  be  was  buried. 

The  works  above  mentioned  occasioned  the  following 
answers;  "  A  vindication  of  the  Protestant  Religion  against 
the  marquis  of  Worcester's  last  papers.  By  Christ.  Cart- 
wright,  Lond.  1652,  4to.  "An  answer  to  the  marquis  of 
Worcester's  papers  relating  to  king  Charles  I."  by  L'Es- 
strange,  Lond.  1651,  8va  "  Answer  to  Dr.  Bayly's  Chal- 
lenge," an  imperfect  work,  by  Rob.  Sanderson.  "Ani- 
madversions on  Certamen  Religiosum,  &c.  by  Peter  Hey- 
lin,  who  in  1649,  1650,  and  1659,  published  a  collection 
of  papers  entitled  "  Bibliotheca  Regia."  In  this,  says 
Wood,  is  inserted  the  conference  between  king  Charles  I. 
and  the  marquis  of  Worcester-  at  Raglan d,  which  is  by 
many  taken  to  be  authentic,  because  published  by  Heylin. 

Dr.  Bayly's  name  is  likewise  to  a  well-known  "  Life  of 
bishop  Fisher,"  which  is  said  to  have  been  the  production 
of  Richard  Hall,  D.D.  of  Christ  church,  Cambridge,  and 
afterwards  canon  and  official  of  the  cathedral  church  of 
St.  Omer's,  where  he  died  in  1604.  The  manuscript,  after 
his  death,  came  into  the  possession  of  the  English  monks  of 
Dieulwart,  in  Lorrain ;  from  whence  a  copy  fell  into  the 
hands  of  one  Mr.  West,  who  presented  it  to  Francis  a  St. 
Clara,  alias  Francis  Davenport,  a  Franciscan  friar.  Da- 
venport gave  it  to  sir  Wingfield  Bodenham,  who  put  it 
into  the  hands  of  Dr.  Bayly.  The  doctor  read  it,  took  a 
copy  of  it,  and  sold  it  to  a  bookseller  who  published  it  with 
Dr.  Bayly's  name. — Such  is  the  account  Wood  gives,  and 
in  which  he  is  followed  by  Dodd,  on  which  we  have  only 
to  remark  that  this  life  is  preceded  by  a  dedication  signed 
with  the  doctor's  initials,  and  avowing  himself  to  be  the 
author. l 

BAYLY  (Walter).     SeeBALEY. 

BAYNARD  (Anne),  a  learned  English  lady,  the  only 
daughter  of  Dr.  Edward  Bay  nard,  a  gentleman  of  an  ancient 
family,  and  an  eminent  physician  in  London,  was  born  at 
Preston,  in  Lancashire,  in  1 672.  Her  father,  who  discovered 
her  early  capacity,  bestowed  great  care  on  her  education,  and 
was  rewarded  by  the  extraordinary  proficiency  she  made  in 

1  Bios.  Brit.— Ath.  Ox.  vol.  I.  II.— Dodd's  Cb.  Hist. 

Vol.  IV.  Q  , 


226  B  A  Y  N  A  R  D. 

various  branches  of  learning  not  usual  with  her  sex.  She 
was  well  acquainted  with  philosophy,  mathematics,  and 
physics.  She  was  also  familiar  with  the  writings  of  the 
ancients  in  their  original  languages.  At  the  age  of  twenty- 
three  she  had  the  knowledge  of  a  profound  philosopher, 
&id  in  metaphysical  learning  was  a  nervous  and  subtle 
disputant.  She  took  great  pains  with  the  Greek  language, 
that  she  might  read  in  their  native  purity  the  works  of  St. 
Chrjrsostom.  Her  Latin  compositions,  which  were  va- 
rious, were  written  in  a  pure  and  elegant  style.  She  pos- 
sessed an  acute  and  comprehensive  mind,  an  ardent  thirst 
of  knowledge,  and  a  retentive  memory.  She  was  accus- 
tomed to  declare,  "  that  it  was  a  siu  to  be  content  with  a 
little  knowledge."  To  the  endowments  of  the  mind  she 
added  the  virtues  of  the  heart ;  she  was  modest,  humble, 
and  benevolent,  exemplary  in  her  whole  conduct,  and  in 
every  relative  duty.  She  was  pious  and  constant  in  her 
devotions,  both  public  and  private ;  beneficent  to  the 
poor;  simple  in  her  manners;  retired,  and  rigid  in  her 
notions  and  habits.  It  was  her  custom  to  lay  aside  a  cer- 
tain portion  of  her  income,  which  was  not  Targe,  for  cha- 
ritable uses ;  to  this  she  added  an  ardent  desire  and  stre- 
nuous efforts  for  the  mental  and  moral  improvement  of 
those  within  her  circle  and  influence.  About  two  years 
previous  to  her  death,  she  seems  to  have  been  impressed 
with  an  idea  of  her  early  dissolution  ;  which  first  suggested 
itself  to  her  mind  while  walking  alone  among  the  tombs, 
in  a  church-yard ;  and  which  she  indulged  with  much 
complacency.  On  her  death-bed  she  earnestly  entreated 
the  minister  who  attended  her,  that  he  would  exhort  all 
the  young  people  of  his  congregation  to  the  study  of  wis- 
dom and  knowledge,  as  the  means  of  moral  improvement 
and  real  happiness.  "  I  could  wish,9'  says  she,  "  that  all 
young  persons  might  be  exhorted  to  the  practice  of  virtue, 
and  to  increase  their  knowledge  by  the  study  of  pbilo* 
sophy  ;  and  especially  to  read  the.  great  book  of  nature, 
wherein  they  may  see  the  wisdom  and  power  of  the  Cre- 
ator, in  the  order  of  the  universe,  and  in  the  production 
and  preservation  of  all  things*" — "  That  women  are  capable 
of  such  improvements,  which  will  better  their  judgments 
fend  understandings,  is  past  all  doubt,  would  they  but  set 
about  it  in  earnest,  and  spend  but  half  of  that  time  in  study 
and  thinking,  which  they  do  in  visits,  vanity,,  and  folly. 


B  A  Y  N  A  R  D.  227 

It  would  introduce  a  composure  of  mind,  and  lay  a  solid 
basis  for  wisdom  and  knowledge,  by  which  they  would  be 
better  enabled  to  serve  God,  and  to  help  their  neighbours.** 
These  particulars  are  taken  from  her  funeral  sefriion, 
preached  at  Barnes,  where  she  died  in  her  25th  year,  June 
12,  1697,  by  the  rev.  John  Prade,  and  reprinted  in  that 
useful  collection  of  such  documents,  u  ^Vilford's  Memo- 
rials." She  was  interred  at  the  East  end  of  the  church- 
yard of  Barnes,  with  a  monument  and  inscription,  of  which 
no  traces  are  now  to  be  found,  but  the  inscription  is  pre- 
served in  Aubrey. l 

BAYNES  (John),  was  born  in  April  1753,  at  Middle- 
ham,  in  Yorkshire ;  where  bis  father,  who  afterwards  re- 
tired from  business,  then  followed  the  profession  of  the 
law.  Mr.  Baynes  received  his  education  at  Richmond, 
under  the  rev,  Mr.  A.  Temple,  author  of  three  discourses, 
printed  in  1772;  of  "Remarks  on  the  Layman's  Scriptural 
Confutation ;  and  letters  to  the  rev.  Thomas  Randolph, 
D.  D.  containing  a  defence  of  Remarks  on  the  Layman's 
Scriptural  Confutation,"  1779,  8vo.  At  school  he  soon 
distinguished  himself  by  his  superior  talents  and  learning, 
and  by  the  age  of  fourteen  years  was  capable  of  reading 
and  understanding  the  Greek  classics.  From  Richmond 
he  was  seut  to  Trinity  college,  Cambridge  ;  where,  before 
he  had  arrived  at  the  age  of  twenty  years,  he  obtained  the 
medals  given  for  the  best  performances  in  classical  and 
mathematical  learning.  In  1777  he  took  the  degree  of 
B.  A. ;  and  determining  to  apply  himself  to  the  study  of  the 
law,  he  about  1778,  or  1779,  became  a  pupil  to  Allen 
Chambre,  esq.  and  entered  himself  of  the  society  of 
Gray's-inn.  In  1780  he  took  the  degree  of  M.  A.  and 
about  the  same  time  was  chosen  fellow  of  the  college. 
From  this  period  he  chiefly  resided  in  London,  and, 
warmed  with  the  principles  of  liberty,  joined  those  who 
were  clamorous  in  calling  for  reformation  in  the  state. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  constitutional  society,  and  took, 
a  very  active  part  at  the  meeting  at  York,  in  December, 
1779.  In  his  political  creed  he  entertained  the  same  sen- 
timents with  his  friend  Dr.  Jebb ;  and,  like  him,  without 
hesitation  renounced  those  of  his  party  whom  he  consU 
dered  to  have  disgraced  themselves  by  the  unnatural  coa- 

.*  BaH*rd'«  Memoin^Wilford's   Memorial*,  p,  38l<-«*Lysohs'i  Eurirotis, 
to!.  1. 

Q  2 


<22S  BAYNES, 

lition  between  lord  Nortt  and  Mr.  Fox.  We  are  toldr 
liowever,  that  if  the  warmth  of  his  political  pursuits  was 
not  at  fill  tiroes  under  the  guidance  of  discretion,  he 
never  acted  but  from  the  strictest  principles  of  integrity. 
He  had  a  very  happy  talent  for  poetry,  which  by  many 
will  be  thought  to  have  been  misapplied,  when  devoted  as 
it  was,  to  the  purposes  of  party.  He  wrote  many  ocCa* 
sional  pieces  in  the  newspapers,  particularly  in  the  Lon- 
don Courant,  but  was  very  careful  to  conceal  himself  as 
the  writer  of  verses,  which  he  thought  would  have  an  ill 
effect  on  him  in  his  profession,  a  species  of  caution  not 
much  calculated  to  prove  that  independence  of  spirit  for 
which  men  of  his  stamp  contend.  There  is  great  reason 
to  believe  that  he  wrote  the  celebrated  Archaeological 
epistle  to  Dr.  Milles,  dean  of  Exeter.  ,  It  is  certain  this 
excellent  performance  was  transmitted  to  the  press  through 
his  hands ;  and  it  is  more  than  probable,  that  the  same 
reason  which  occasioned  him  to  decline  the  credit  of  his 
other  poetical  performances,  influenced  him  to  relinquish 
the  honour  of  this.  It  is  a  fact,  however,  which  should 
not  be  suppressed,  that  he  always  disclaimed  being  the 
author  of  this  poem  ;  and  when  once  pressed  on  the  sub- 
ject by  a  friend,  he  desired  him  to  remember  when  it  should 
be  no  longer  a  secret,  that  he  then  disowned  it.  Mr. 
Baynes  had  many  friends,  to  whom  he  was  sincerely  at- 
tached, and  by  whom  he  was  greatly  beloved.  Scarce  any 
man,  indeed,  bad  so  few  enemies.  Even  politics,  that 
fatal  disuniter  of  friendships,  lost  its  usual  effect  with  him. 
As  he  felt  no  rancour  towards  those  from  whom  he  dif- 
fered, so  he  experienced  no  malignity  in  return.  What 
he  conceived  to  be  right,  neither  power  nor  interest  could 
deter  him  from  asserting.  In  the  autumniiefore  his  death, 
when  he  apprehended  the  election  for  fellows  of  Trinity 
college  to  be  irregularly  conducted,  he  boldly,  though 
respectfully,  with  others  of  the  society^  represented  the 
abuse  to  the  heads  of  the  college ;  and  when,  instead  of 
the  expected  reform,  an  admonition  was  given  tb  the  re- 
monstrants, to  behave  with  more  respect  to  their  supe- 
riors, conscious  of  the  rectitude  of  their  intentions,  he 
made  no  scruple  of  referring  the  conduct  of  himself  and 
his  friends  to  a  higher  tribunal,  but  the  matter  was  not 
decided  kefore  his  death.  It  was  his  intention  to  publish 
a  more  correct  edition  of  lord  Coke's  tracts;  and  we  are 


B  A  Y  N  E  S.  229 

• 

informed  he  left  the  work  nearly  completed.  His  death 
is  supposed  to  have  been  occasioned  by  an  intense  appli- 
cation to  business,  which  brought  on  a  putrid  fever,  of 
which  he  died,  universally  lamented,  August  3,  1787, 
after  eight  days  illness.  In  the  ensuing  week  he  was  bu- 
ried near  the  remains  of  his  friend  Dr.  Jebb,  privately,  in  .. 
Bunhill -fields  burying-ground.1 

BAYNES  (Paul),  an  English  divine  of  considerable 
eminence  at  Cambridge,  was  a  native  of  London.  He 
received  his  school-education  at  Withersfield,  in  Essex, 
and  was  afterwards  admitted  of  Christ  college,  Cambridge, 
where  his  behaviour  was  so  loose  and  irregular  that  his 
father  left  what  he  meant  to  bestow  on  him,  in  the  hands 
of  Mr.  Wilson,  a  tradesman  of  London,  with  an  injunction 
not  to  let  him  have  it,  unless  he  forsook  his  evil  courses. 
This  happy  change  took  place  not  long  after  his  father's 
death,  and  Mr.  Wilson  delivered  up  his  trust.  In  the  in- 
terim, although  his  moral  conduct  was  censurable,  such 
was  his  proficiency  in  learning,  that  he  was  elected  a  fellow 
of  his  college  ;  and  after  his  reformation,  having  been  ad- 
mitted into  holy  orders,  he  was  so  highly  esteemed  for 
his  piety,  eloquence,  and  success,  as  a  preacher,  that  he 
was  chosen  to  succeed  the  celebrated  Perkins,  as  lecturer 
of  St.  Andrew's  church.  In  this  office  he  continued  until 
silenced  for  certain  opinions,  not  favourable  to  the  disci- 
pline of  the  church,  byAbp.  Bancroft's  visitor,  Mr.  (afterwards 
archbishop)  Harsnet ;  and  Mr.  Baynes  appealed,  but  in. 
vain,  to  the  archbishop.  On  another  occasion  he  was 
summoned  by  Dr.  Harsnet,  them  bishop  of  Chichester,  to 
the  privy-council,  but  acquitted  himself  so  much  to  the 
satisfaction  of  all  present,  that  he  met  with  no  farther 
trouble.  During  his  suspension  from  the  regular  exercise 
of  his  ministry,  he  employed  himself  on  his  writings,  none 
of  which,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  dates  of  those  we  have 
seen,  were  published  in  his  life-time.  He  died  at  Cam- 
bridge, in  1617.  His  works  are:  1.  "  A  commentary  on 
the  first  chapter  of  the  epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  handling 
the  controversy  of  Predestination,"  London,  1618,  4to. 
2.  "  The  Diocesan's  Trial,  wherein  all  the  sinews  of  Dr. 
Downham's  defence  are  brought  into  three  heads,  and  dis- 
solved," 1621.     3.  "  Help  to  true  happiness,  explaining 

1  Gent,  Mag,  vol.  LVII. 


230  te  a  y  n  e  s, 

the  fundamentals  of  Christian  religion,"  London,  12ma 
3d  edit.  1635.  4.  "  Letters  of  consolation,  exhortation, 
direction,  with  a  sermon  of  the  trial  of  a  Christian's  estate, 
1637,  12mo.  5.  "  A  Commentary  on  the  epistle  to  the 
Epbesians,"  Lond.  fol.  1643. l 

BAYNES  (Ralph),  an  English  prelate,  was  a  native  of 
Yorkshire,  and  educated  in  St.  John's  college,  Cambridge, 
where  he  attained  considerable  reputation,  as  an  expounder 
of  the  Scriptures,  and  as  a  Greek  and   Hebrew  scholar. 
Having  taken  his  degree  of  D.  D.  he  went  over  to  Paris, 
and  was  for  some  time  royal  professor  of  Hebrew.     He 
remained  abroad  during  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of 
Henry  VIII.  and  the  whole  of  Edward  VI.  but  upon  the 
accession  of  queen  Mary,  with  whose  principles  he  coin- 
cided,  he  was  consecrated  bishop  of  Lichfield  and  Co- 
ventry.    When  queen  Elizabeth  succeeded,  he  was  de- 
?>rived,  and  for  some  time  imprisoned,  but  lived  afterwards 
n  the  bishop  of  London's  house.     He  died  in  1559,  of 
the  stone.     Fuller  says,  in  allusion  to  the  persecutions  he 
occasioned  in  his  diocese,  that  although  he  was  as  bad  as 
Christopberson,  he  was  better  than  Bonner.      He  wrote 
"  Prima  Rudimenta  in  linguam  Hebraicam,"  Paris,  155Q, 
4to,  and  "  Comment,  in  proverbia  Salomonis,  lib.  JII." 
ibid,  and  same  year,  fol. 2 

BAYNES  (Sir  Thomas),  an  eminent  physician,  and 
professor  of  music  at  Gresham-college,  in  London,  was 
born  about  the  year  1622,  and  educated  at  Christ's  col- 
lege, in  Cambridge,  under  the  tuition  of  the  learned  Dr. 
Henry  More,  where  he  took  the  degree  of  B.  A.  about  the 
year  1642.  In  1649,  he  took  the  degree  of  M.  A.  and 
commenced  the  study  of  physic.  He  went  into  Italy  in 
/  company  with  Mr.  Finch  (afterwards  sir  John),  with  whonj 
he  had  contracted  the  strictest  friendship ;  and  at  Padua 
they  were  both  created  doctors  of  physic.  Upon  the  re-» 
storation  of  king  Charles  II.  in  1660,  Mr.  Baynes  and  Mr. 
Finch  returned  into  England,  and  the  same  year  were 
created  doctors  of  physic  at  Cambridge.  On  the  26th  of 
February  following,  Mr.  Baynes,  together  with  sir  John 
Finch,  was  admitted  a  fellow  extraordinary,  i.  e.  one  be? 

1  Clarke's  Lives,  at  the  end  of  his  Martyrologjr,  p.  22. — Cole's  MS  Athena) 
in  Beit.  Mas. 

•  Tanner,  Sale,  and  Pits.— Godwin.— Strype's  Annals.— Cranmer,  p.  320, 


B  A  Y  N  E  S.  »i 

yond  the  then  limited  number,  of  the  college  of  physicians 
of  London.     Dr.  Petty  having  resigned  bis  professorship 
of  music  in  Gresham-college,  Dr.  Baynes  was  chosen  to 
succeed  him,  the  8th  of  March,   1660;  and  the  26th  of 
June  following,  he  and  his  friend  sir  John  Finch  were  ad* 
mitted,  graduates  in  physic  at  Cambridge,  in  pursuance  of 
the  grace  passed  in  their  favour  the  year  before.  In  March 
1663,   they  were  elected  F.  R,  S.  upon  the  first  choice 
made  by  the  council,  after  the  grant  of  their  charter,  of 
which  they  had  been  members  before ;  and  May  15,  1661, 
had,  with  several  others,  been  nominated  a  committee  for 
a  library  at  Gresham  college,  and  for  examining  of  the 
generation  of  insects.     In  March  1664,  Dr.  Baynes  ac- 
companied sir  John  Finch  to  Florence,  where  that  gentle-  ' 
man  was  appointed  his  majesty's  resident;,   and  returned 
back  with  him  into  England  in  1670.     Towards  the  end  of 
the  year  1672,  sir  John  being  appointed  the  king's  am* 
bassador  to  the  grand1  signor,  Dr.  Baynes  was  ordered  to 
attend  him  as  his  physician,  and  before  he  left  England, 
received  from  his  majesty  the  honour  of  knighthood*    Nine 
years  after,  sir  Thomas  still . continuing  in  Turkey,  the 
Gresham  committee  found  it  necessary  to  supply  his  pro- 
fessorship, by  chusing  Mr.  AVilliam  Perry  in  his  roouv,  bttt 
of  this  he  never  heard,  as  he  died  at  Constantinople  about 
a  month  after,  Sept.  5,  1681,  to  the  inexpressible  grief 
of  fcis  affectionate  friend,  sir  John  Finch,  who  died-  Not. 
18,  1682,  and  according  to  his  own  desire,  •  was  interred 
at  Cambridge,  in  the  chapel  of  Christ's  college,  wjiither 
the  remains  of  sir  Thomas  had  been  brought.  •  J)r,-  Henry 
More  inscribed  a  long  qpitaph  vto  their  memories,  com* 
memoratincr  their  many  virtues  and    steady  friendship. 
The}7  jointly  left  four  thousand  pounds  to  that  college,  by 
which  two  fellowships  and  two  scholarships  were  founded, 
and  an  addition  made  to  the  master's  income.     Sir  John 
was  supposed  to  have  paid  most  of  the  money,  though  he 
was  willing  that  sir  Thomas  should  share  with  him  in  the 
honour  of  this  donation,  as  in  all  his  other  laudable  actions. 
This  instance  of  a  long  and  inviolably  mutual  attachment, 
may  be  added  to  the  histories  of  human  friendship,  which 
are  so  rare,  and  so  gratifying  when  they  do  occur.     Is  it 
not  probable  that  these  two  gentlemen  imbibed  something 
of  the  noble  enthusiasm  they  were  inspired  with  from  their 
tutor,  Dr.  Henry  More ;  who  was  a  man  of  the  warmest 


233  BAYNES. 

< 

and  most  generous  affections,  and  a  great  adept  in  the 
Platonic  philosophy  ? ' 

BAYRO  (Peter  de),  an  Italian  physician,  of  great  re- 
putation in  his  day,  charitably  attentive  to  the  wants  of 
the  poor,  and  so  successful  in  his  practice,  as  to  be  often, 
consulted  by  princes  and  men  of  rank,  who  munificently 
rewarded  his  services,  was  born  at  Turin,  about  the  year 
1478,  and  became  first  physician  to  Charles  II.  (or  ac- 
cording to  Diet.  Hist.  Charles  HI.)  duke  of  Savoy.  He 
died  April  1,  1558.  His  works  are:  1.  "  De  pestilentia 
ejusque  curatione  per  preservationum  et  curationum  regi- 
men," Turin,  1507,  4to,  Paris,  1513,  8vo.  2.  "  Lexi- 
pyretae  perpetuae  questionis  et  annexorum  solutio,  de  no- 
bilitate  facultatum  per  terminos  utriusque  facultatis,*' 
Turin,  1512,  fol.  3.  €€  De  medendis  humani  corporis 
malis  Enchyridion,  quod  vulgo  Vade-mecum  vocant," 
Basil,"  1563,  and  often  reprinted. a 

*  BAZIN  (N.)  a  physician  at  Strasburgh,  who  died  in 
May  1754,  was  not  more  esteemed  for  his  successful  prac- 
tice, than  for  his  knowledge  of  botany  and  natural  history. 
In  his  pursuit  6f  these  studies,  he  published  :  I.  i€  Obser- 
vations sur  les  Plantes,"  Strasburgh,  1741,  8vo.  2.  "Trait6 
de  l'accroissement  des  Plantes,"  1745,  8vo.  3.  "  Histoire 
des  Abeilles,"  Paris,  1744,  2  vols.  12mo.  4.  i:  Lettre  sur 
le  Polypes,"  1745,  12mo.  5.  "  Abrege*  de  Phistoi*e  des 
Insectes,"  Paris,  1747,  2  vols.  12 mo,  an  excellent  abridg- 
ment of  Reaumur.  * 

'•  BE  (William  le),  engraver,  and  letter-founder,  was 
born  at  Troyes,  in  1525,  son  of  Guilleaume  le  Be,  a  noble 
-bourgeois,  and  Magdalen*  de  St.  Aubin.  Being  brought 
up  in  the  house  of  Robert  Stephens,  whom  his  father  sup- 
plied with  paper,  he  got  an  insight  into  the  composition 
of  the  types  of  that  famous  printing-house.     He  after- 

•  wards,  by  order  of  Francis  I.  made  those  beautiful  oriental 
types  which  Robert  Stephens  used;  and  Philip  II.  era- 
ployed  him  to  prepare  those  with  which  his  Bible  of  Ant- 
werp was  printed.      In    1545   le  B6  took   a  journey  to 

♦Venice,  and  there  cut  for  Mark  Anthony  Justiniani,  who 
ihad  raised  a  Hebrew  printing-house,  the  punches  neces- 
sary to  the  casting  of  the  founts  to  be  employed  in  that 

I  Ward's  Gresham  Professors. — Biog.  Brit 

•  Moreri,  Man^et,  and  Hajler,  9  Diet.  HifV 


B  E.  233 

establishment.  Being  rfeturned  to  Paris,  he  there  prac- 
tised his  art  till  1598,  the  year  of  his  decease.  Casaubon 
speaks  of  him  highly  to  his  credit  in  his  preface  to  the 
Opuscula  of  Scaliger.  Henry  le  B£,  his  son,  was  a  printer 
at  Paris,  where  he  gave  in  1581,  a  quarto  edition  of  the 
4t  Institutiones  Clenardi  Gr.n  This  book,  which  was  of 
great  utility  to  the  authors  of  the  "  Methode  Grecque"  of 
Port-royal,  is  a  master-piece  in  printing.  His  sons  and 
his  grandsons  signalised  themselves  in  the  same  art.  The 
last  of  them  died  in  1685.  * 

BEACH  (Thomas),  an  English  writer,  was 'a  wine 
merchant  at  Wrexham,  in  Denbighshire,  a  man  of  learn- 
ing, great  humanity,  of  an  easy  fortune,  and  much  re- 
spected. He  published  in  1737,  "  Eugenio,  or  virtuous 
and  happy  life,"  4to,  a  poem  inscribed  to  Pope,  and  by 
no  means  destitute  of  poetical  merit.  He  submitted  it  in 
manuscript  to  Swift,  who  wrote  him  a  long  and  very  candid 
letter,  now  printed  in  his  works,  and  Mr.  Beach  adopted  Swift's 
corrections.  He  is  said  to  have  entertained  very  blameable 
notions  in  religion,  but  his  friends  endeavoured  to  vindi- 
cate him  from  this  charge,  when  his  death  took  place,  May 
17,  1737,  precipitated  by  his  own  hand.  * 

BEACON  or  BECGN  (Thomas),  one  of  the  English 
reformers,  was  a  native  of  Norfolk,  or  Suffolk,  and  edu- 
cated «at  Cambridge,  where  he  took  his  bachelor's  degree 
in  1530.  He  was  presented  on  May  24,  1547,  to  the 
rectory  of  St  Stephen  Walbrook,  of  which  he  was  de- 
prived in  1554,  and  imprisoned  twice  in  queen  Mary's 
time,  but  escaped  to  Marpurg.  From  Strasburgb,  irrthe 
same  year,  we  find  him  addressing  au  "  Epistle  to  the 
Faithful  in  England,"  exhorting  them  to  patient  perse-* 
verance  in  the  truth.  After  queen  Mary's  death,  he  re- 
turned to  England,  and  in  1560  was  preferred  to  the  rec- 
tory of  Buckland,  in  Hertfordshire,  and  in  1563  to  that  of 
St  Dionis  Backchurch,  in  London.  He  was  also  a  pre- 
bend of  the  fourth  stall  in  Canterbury  cathedral,  and  had 
been,  in  Cranmer's  time,  chaplain  to  that  celebrated  pre- 
late. Tanner's  account  of  bis  promotions  is  somewhat  dif- 
ferent. We  learn  from  Strype,  in  his  life  of  Grindall, 
that  he  objected  at  first,  but  afterwards  conformed  to  the 

'  Diet.  Hist — Moreri. 

•  Swift'i  Works.— Gent.  Ma;,  vol.  VII.  p.  316,  377. 


»*  BEACON. 

clerical  dress,  some  articles  of  which  at  that  time  were 
much  scrupled  by  the  reformers  who  had  lived  abroad. 
He  died  at  Canterbury,  about  1570,  in  his  sixtieth  year. 
Jn  the  Heerologia,  a  work  not  much  to  be  depended  on, 
it  is  said  that  he  was  professor  of  divinity  at  Oxford,  an 
assertion   contrary   to   all    other  authority.      He  wrote: 

I.  *'  Ccenae  Dominic®  et  Missae  Papisticse  comparatio," 
Basil,  1559,  Svo.  2.  "  Various  treatises/'  fol,  printed 
by  Day,  1560.  3.  "  The  Acts  of  Christe  and  Anti-  ' 
christe,"  Loud.  1577,  12mo.  4.  "The  reliques  of  Rome," 
t>y  Day,  1563,  16mo.  On  the  opposite  side  to  the  title 
is  the  head  of  the  author,  with  the  inscription,  "  JEtatis 
suae  41,  1553,"  which  makes  the  time  of  his  birth  1512; 
and  at  the  time  of  his  persecution  in  1541,  he  must  have 
Ibeen  about  twenty-nine  years  of  age.  5.  "  Postills  upon 
the  sundry  Gospels,"  Lond.  4to,  1566.  6.  "  His  works," 
Lond.  1564,  2  vols.  7.  "  The  Sick-inaii's  salve,  or  direc- 
tions in  sickness,  and  how  to  dye,"  Edin.  1613,  8vo.  It 
fcas  been  said  that  he  was  die  first  Englishman  that  wrote 
against  bowing  at  the  name  of  Jesus,  but  no  such  work  is 
enumerated  in  the  list  of  his  writings.  * 

BE  ALE  (Mary),  a  portrait-painter  in  the  reign  of  Charles  . 

II.  was  daughter  of  Mr.  Cradock,  minister  of  Walton  upon 
Thames,  but  was  born  in  Suffolk  in  1632.  She  was  as- 
siduous in  copying  the  works  of  sir  Peter  Lely  and  Van- 
dyke. She  painted  in  oil,  water-colours,  and  crayons; 
and  bad  much  business.  The  author  of  the  essay  towards 
an  English  school  of  Painters,  annexed  to  De  Piles' s  art 
of  Painting,  says,  that  "  she  was  little  inferior  to  any  of 
her  contemporaries,  either  for  colouring,  strength,  forpe, 
or  life  ;  insomuch  that  sir  Peter  was  greatly  taken  with  her 
performances,  as  he  would  often  acknowledge.  She  worked 
with  a  wonderful  body  of  colours,  and  was  exceedingly  in- 
dustrious." She  was  greatly  respected  and  encouraged 
by  many  of  the  most  eminent  among  the  clergy  of  that 
time;  she  took  the  portraits  of  Tillotson,  StUHngfieet, 
Patrick,  Wilkins,  &c.  some  of  which  are  still  remaining 
at  the  earl  of  Ilchester's,  at  Melbury,  in  Dorsetshire.  In 
the  manuscripts  of  Mr.  Oldys,  she  is  celebrated  for  her 
poetry  as  well  as  for  her  painting;  and  is  styled  "that 

1  Tanner.— EUii's  Hist,  of  Shorediteh.— Churton's  Life  of  Nowell. — Strype's 
Life  of  Cranmer,  p.  161,  171,  276,  290,  313,  329,  357,  423.— Strype V  Parker* 
Bo,  130,  22b.— Lupton's  Modern  Divines,  &c. 


BEALE,  -     235 

masculine  poet,  as  well  as  painter,  the  incomparable  Mrs. 
Beale."  In  Dr.  S.  Woodford's  translation  of  the  Psalms, 
are  two  or  three  versions  of  particular  psalms,  by  Mrs. 
Beale  :  whom,  in  his  preface,  he  calls  "  an  absolutely 
complete  gentlewoman  ?"  He  says  farther,  "  I  have  hardly 
obtained  leave  to  honour  this  volume  of  mine  with  two  otr 
three  versions,  long  since  done  by  the  truly  virtuous  Mrs. 
Mary  Beale ;  among  whose  least  accomplishments  it  is, 
that  she  has  made  painting  and  poetry,  which  in  the  fancies 
of  others  had  only  before  a  kind  of  likeness,  in  her  own  ta 
be  really  the  same.  The  reader,  I  hope,  will  pardon  this 
public  acknowledgement,  which  I  make  to  so  deserving  < 
person."  She  died  Dec.  28,  1697,  in  her  66th  year. 
She  had  two  sons,  who  both  exercised  the  art  of  painting 
some  little  time ;  one  of  them  afterwards  studied  physic  under 
Dr.  Sydenham,  and  practised  at  Coventry,  where  he  and 
his  father  died.  There  is  an  engraving,  by  Chambers, 
from  a  painting  by  herself,  of  Mrs.  Beale,  in  Walpole'» 
Anecdotes  of  Painting  in  England. l 

BEALE  (Robert),  or  BELUS,  who  was  the  eldest  son 
of  Robert  Beale,  a  descendant  from  the  family  of  Beale, 
of  Woodbridge,  in  Suffolk,  appears  to  have  been  educated 
to  the  profession  of  the  civil  and  canon  law.  He  was  an 
exile  on  account  of  religion,  in  queen  Mary's  days,  but 
some  time  after  his  return,  married  Editha,  daughter  of 
Henry  St.  Barbe,  of  Somersetshire,  and  sister  to  the  lady 
of  sir  Francis  Walsingham,  under  whose  patronage  he  first 
appeared  at  court.  In  1571  he  was  secretary  to  sir  Francis 
when  sent  ambassador  to  France,  and  himself  was  sent  in 
the  same  character,  in  1576,  to  the  prince  of  Orange. 
Heylin  and  Fuller  inform  us  that  he  was  a  great  favourer 
of  the  Puritans,  and  wrote  in  defence  of  their  principles. 
About  the  year  1564  he  wrote  in  defence  of  the  validity  of 
the  marriage  between  the  earl  of  Hertford  and  lady  Ca- 
therine Grey,  and  against  the  sentence  of  the  delegates, 
which  sentence  was  also  opposed  by  the  civilians  of  Spire, 
and  of  Paris,  whom  Beale  had  consulted.  Strype,  in  his 
life  of  Parker,  mentions  his, "  Discourse  concerning  the 
Parisian  massacre  by  way  of  letter  to  the  lord  Burghley." 
His  most  considerable  work,  however,  is  a  collection  of 
some  of  the  Spanish  historians,  under  the  title  "  Rerum 
^ispanicarum  Scriptores,"  Francf.  1579,  2  vols.  foL  He  was 

}  ,Biof ,  Brit— Walpole'*  Anecdotes.-— Pilkington. 


236  B  E  A  L  E. 

by  the  interest  of  Walsingbam  appointed  secretary  for  the 
northern  parts*  and  a  clerik  of  the  privy  council.  Camden 
seems  to  think  that  his  attachment  to  Puritanism  made  hini 
be  chosen  to  convey  to  Fotheringay  the  warrant  for  be- 
heading Mary  queen  of  Scots,  which  he  read  on  the  scaf- 
fold, and  was  a  witness  of  its  execution.  He  was  also  one 
of  the  commissioners  at  the  treaty  of  Bologne,  the  year 
before  his  death,  which  event  happened  May  25,  1601,  at 
parties,  in  Surrey.  He  was  interred  in  the  parish  church 
of  Allhallows,  London  Wall.1 

BEARCROFT  (Philip),  D.  D.  master  of  the  Charter- 
house, was  born  May  1,  1697,  and  elected  scholar  of  the 
Charter-house,  on  the  nomination  of  lord  Somers,  July 
19,  1710;  whence,  in  Nov.  1712,  he  was  elected  to  the 
University,  and  was'  matriculated  of  St.  Mary  Magdalen 
ball,  Oxford,  Dec.  17,  following.  In  1716  he  took  his 
bachelor's  degree,  and  in  June  1717,  was  elected  proba- 
tionary, and  two  years  after,  actual  fellow  of  Merton  col- 
lege. After  taking  deacon's  orders  in  1718,  and  priest's 
in  1719,  and  proceeding  M.  A.  he  was  appointed  preacher 
to  the  Charter-house  in  1724.  In  1730  he  accumulated 
the  degrees  of  B.  and  D.  D.  and  in  1738  was  made  one  of 
,  the  king's  chaplains,  and  in  March  1739,  secretary  to  the 
society  for  propagating  the  gospel  in  foreign  parts.  In 
1743  he  was*  instituted  to  the  rectory  of  Stormouth  in  Kent, 
which  he  held  by  dispensation,  and  was  elected  master  of 
the  Charterhouse  Dec.  18,  1753.  He  died  Nov.  17,1761. 
Although  a  man  of  worth  and  learning,  he  bad  no  talents 
for  writing.  The  only  attempt  he  made  was  in  his  "  His- 
torical Account  of  Thomas  Sutton,  esq.  and  of  his  Founda- 
tion in  the  Charter-house,"  Lond.  1737,  8vo.  He  intended 
also  to  have  published  a  collection  of  the  Rules  and  Orders, 
but  being  prevented  by  the  governors,  some  extracts  only 
were  printed  in  a  quarto  pamphlet,  and  dispersed  among 
the  officers  of  the  house.  * 

.  BEARD  (John),  an  English  actor  and  singer,  born  in 
1717,  was  bred  up  in  the  king's  chapel,  and  was  one  of 
the  singers  in  the  duke  of  Chandos's  chapel  at  Cannons, 
where  he  performed  in  Esther,  an  oratorio  composed  by 
Mr.  Handel.     He  appeared  the  first  time  on  the  stage  at 

i  Tanner.— Lodge's  Illustrations.— Lysona's  Environ*,  vol.  L— Antonio  Bibl*    % 
Hisp. 
•  Nichols's  Bowyer,  vol.  I. 


BEARD.  237 

Drury-lane,  Aug.  30,  1737,  in  sir  John  Loverulp,  in  the 
"  Devil  to  Pay."  He  afterwards,  on  the  8th  of  Jan.  1739, 
married  lady  Henrietta  Herbert,  daughter  of  James  earl 
Waldegrave,  and  widow  of  lord  Edward  Herbert,  second 
son  of  the  marquis  of  Powis.  She  died  31st  of  May  1753* 
On  his  marriage  he  quitted  the  stage  for  a  few  years.  He 
afterwards  returned  to  Drury-lane,  and  in  1744  to  Covent- 
garden,  where  he  remained  until  1758.  In  that  year  be 
engaged  with  Mr.  Garrick,  and  continued  with  him  until 
1759,  when  having  married  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Rich,  he 
was  engaged  at  Co  vent- garden,  where,  on  the  death  of 
that  gentleman,  he  became  manager.  His  first  appear- 
ance there  was  on  the  10th  of  Oct  1759,  in  the  character 
of  Macheath,  which,  aided  by  Miss  Brent  in  Polly,  ran  fif- 
ty-two nights.  In  1768  he  retired  from  the  theatre,  and 
died  universally  respected  at  the  age  of  seventy-four,  in 
1791.  His  remains  were  deposited  in  the  vault  of  the 
church  at  Hampton  in  Middlesex.  He  was  long  the  de- 
served favourite  of  the  public  ;  and  whoever  remembers 
the  variety  of  his  abilities,  as  actor  and  singer,  in  oratorios 
and  operas,  both  serious  and  comic,  will  testify  to  his 
having  stood  unrivalled  in  fame  and  excellence.  This 
praise,  however,  great  as  it  wag,  fell  short  of  what  his  pri- 
vate merits  acquired.  He  had  ode  of  the  sincerest  hearts 
joined  to  the  most  polished  manners.  He  was  a  most  de- 
lightful companion,  whether  as  host  or  guest.  His  time, 
his  pen,  and  purse,  were  devoted  to  the  alleviation  of 
every  distress  that  fell  within  the  compass  of  his  power,  and 
through  life  he  fulfilled  the  relative  duties  of  son,  brother, 
guardian,  friend,  and  husband,  with  the  most  exemplary 
truth  and  tenderness. 1 

BEATON,  or  BETON  (David),  archbishop  of  St.  An- 
drew's  in  Scotland,  and  cardinal  of  the  Roman  church, 
was  born  1494,  and  educated  in  the  university  of  St.  An* 
drew's.  He  was  afterwards  sent  over  to  the  'university  of 
Paris,  where  he  studied  divinity  ;  and  when  he  attained  a 
proper  age,  entered  into  orders.  In  15 19  he  was  appointed 
resident  at  the  court  of  France ;  about  the  same  time  his 
uncle  James  Beaton,  archbishop  of  Glasgow,  conferred 
upon  him  the  rectory  of  Campsay;  and  in  1523  this 
uncle,  being  then  archbishop  of  St.  Andrew's,  gave  him 
the  abbacy   of  Aberbrothock,    or  Arbroath.     David  re- 

»  From  the  last  edition  of  this  Diet— Gent,  Mag.  1791. 


£38  BEATON. 

turned  to  Scotland  in  1525,  and  in  1528  was  made  lord 
privy  seal.  In  1533  be  was  sent  again  to  France,  in  con- 
junction with  sir  Thomas  Erskine,  to  confirm  the  leagues 
subsisting  between  the  two  kingdoms,  and  to  bring  about  a 
marriage  for  king  James  V.  with  Magdalene,  daughter  of 
the  king  of  France ;  but  the  princess  being  in  a  very  bad 
state  of  health,  the  marriage  could  not  then  take  effect. 
During  his  residence,  however,  at  the  French  court,  he 
received  many  favours  from  his  Christian  majesty.  King 
James  having  gone  over  to  France,  had  the  princess  Mag- 
dalene given  him  in  person,  whom  he  espoused  on  the  first 
of  January  1537.  Beaton  returned  to  Scotland  with  their 
majesties,  where  they  arrived  the  29th  of  May ;  but  the 
death  of  the  queen  happening  the  July  following,  he  was 
sent  over  again  to  Paris,  to  negotiate  a  second  marriage 
for  the  king  with  the  lady  Mary,  daughter  to  the  duke  of 
Guise  ;  and  during  his  stay  at  the  court  of  France,  he  was 
consecrated  bishop  of  Mirepoix.  All  things  being  settled 
in  regard  to  the  marriage,  in  the  month  of  June,  he  em- 
barked with  the  new  queen  for  Scotland,  where  they  ar- 
rived in  July  :  the  nuptials  were  celebrated  at  St.  Andrew's, 
and  the  February  following  the  coronation  was  performed 
with  great  splendour  and  magnificence  in  the  abbey  church 
of  Holyrood -house. 

Beaton,  though  at  this  time  only  coadjutor  of  -St.  An- 
drew's, yet  had  all  the  power  and  authority  of  the  arch- 
bishop ;  and  in  order  to  strengthen  the  catholic  interest  in 
Scotland,  pope  Paul  III.  raised  him  to  a  cardinalship,  by 
the  title  of  St.  Stephen  in  Monte  Coelo,  Dec.  20,  1S38. 
King  Henry  VIII.  having  intelligence  of  the  ends  proposed 
by  the  pope  in  creating  him  a  cardinal,  sent  a  very  able 
minister  to  king  James,  with  particular  instructions  for  a 
deep  scheme  to  procure  the  cardinal's  disgrace  ;  but  it  did 
not  take  effect.  A  few  months  after,  the  old  archbishop 
dying,  the  cardinal  succeeded :  and  it  was  upon  this  pro- 
motion that  he  began  to  shew  his  warm  and  persecuting 
zeal  for  the  church  of  Rome.  Soon  after  his  instalment, 
he  got  together,  in  the  cathedral  of  St  Andrew's,  a  great  con- 
fluence of  persons  of  the  first  rank,  both  clergy  and  laity ;  to 
whom,  from  a  throne  erected  for  the  purpose,  he  made  a 
speech,  representing  to  them  the  danger  wherewith  the 
church  was  threatened  by  the  increase  of  heretics,  who  had 
the  boldness  to  profess  their  opinions  even  in  the  king'r 
£0urt ;  where,  said  he,  they  find  but  too  great  couuteuancei 


BEATON,  239 

and  he  mentioned  by  name  sir  John  Borthwick,  whom  he 
had  caused  to  be  cited  to  that  diet,  for  dispersing  heretical 
hooks,  and  holding  several  opinions  contrary  to  the  doctrine 
of  the  Roman  ctiurch.  Then  the  articles  of  accusation 
were  read  against  him,  and  sir  John  appearing  neither  in 
person  nor  by  proxy,  was  declared  a  heretic,  his  goods 
confiscated,  and  himself  burnt  in  effijy.  Sir  John  retired 
to  England,  where  he  was  kindly  received  by  king  Henry, 
who  sent  him  into  Germany,  in  his  name,  to  conclude  a 
treaty  with  the  protestant  princes  of  the  empire.  Sir  John 
Borthwick  was  not  the  only  person  proceeded  against  for 
heresy;  several  others  were  also  prosecuted,  and  among 
the  rest,  George  Buchanan,  the  celebrated  poet  and  histo- 
rian :  and  as  the  king  left  all  to  the  management  of  the 
cardinal,  it  is  difficult  to  say  to  what  lengths  such  a  furious 
zealot  might  have  gone,  had  not  the  king's  death  put  a 
stop  to  his  arbitrary  proceedings. 

When  the  king  died,  there  being  none  so  near  him  as 
the  cardinal,  it  was  suggested  by  his  enemies  that  he  forged 
his  will ;  and  it  was  set  aside,  notwithstanding  be  had  it 
proclaimed  at  the  cross  of  Edinburgh,  in  order  to  establish 
the  regency  in  the  earls  of  Argyle,  Huntley,  Arran,  and 
himself.  He  was  expressly  excluded  from  the  government, 
and  the  earl  of  Arran  was  declared  sole  regent  during  the 
minority  of  queen  Mary.  This  was  chiefly  effected  by  the 
noblemen  in  the  English  interest,  who,  after  having  sent 
jthe  cardinal  prisoner  to  Blackness/castle,  managed  the 
public  affairs  as  they  pleased.  Things  did  not  remain  long, 
however,  in  this  situation  ;  for  the  ambitious  enterprising 
cardinal,  though  confined,  raised  so  strong  a  party,  that 
the  regent,  not  knowing  how  to  proceed,  began  to  dislike 
his  former  system,  and  having  at  length  resolved  to  aban- 
don it,  released  the  cardinal,  and  became  reconciled  to 
Jiiai,  Upon  the  young  queen's  coronation,  the  cardinal 
was  again  admitted  of  the  council,  and  had  the  high  office 
of  chancellor  conferred  upon  him  ;  and  such  was  now  his 
influence  with  the  regent,  that  be  got  him  to  Solicit  the 
court  of  Rome  to  appoint  him  legate  a  latere  from  the 
pope,  which  was  accordingly  done. 

His  authority  being  now  firmly  established,  he  began 
again  to  promote  the  popish  cause  with  his  utmost  e  forts. 
Towards  the  end  of  1545  he  visited  s?me  parts  of  his  dio- 
cese, attended  with  the  lord  governor,  and  others  of  the 
nobility,  and  ordered  several  persons  to  be  executed  for 


240  BEATON, 

heresy.     In  1546  he  summoned  a  provincial  assembly  of 
the  clergy  at  the  Black  friars  in  Edinburgh,  in  order  to 
concert  measures  for  restraining  heresy.     How  far  they 
proceeded  is  uncertain ;  but  it  is  generally  allowed  that  the 
cardinal  was  diverted  from  the  purposes  he  had  then  in 
hand,  by  information  he  received  of  Mr.  George  Wishart, 
the  most  famous  protestant  preacher  in  Scotland,  being  at 
the  house  of  Mr.  Cockburn  at  Ormiston.     The  cardinal,  by 
ian  order  from  the  governor,  which  was  indeed  with  diffi- 
culty obtained,  caused  him  to  be  apprehended.     He  was 
for  some  time  confined  in  the  castle  Of  Edinburgh,  and  re- 
moved from  thence  to  the  castle  of  St.  Andrew's.     The  car- 
dinal, having  resolved  to  proceed  without  delay  to  his  trial, 
summoned  the  prelates  to  St.  Andrew's.  At  this  meeting  the 
archbishop  of  Glasgow  gave  as  his  opinion,  that  application 
should  be  made  to  the  governor,  to  grant  a  commission  to 
some  nobleman  to  try  so  famous  a  prisoner,  that  the  whole 
blame  might  not  lie  upon  the  clergy.  He  was  accordingly  ap- 
plied to;  and  notwithstanding  his  refusal,  and  his  message  to 
the  cardinal,  not  to  precipitate,  his  trial,  and  notwithstand- 
ing Mr.  Wishart's  appeal,  as  being  the  governor's  prisoner, 
to  a  temporal  jurisdiction  ;  yet  the  furious  prelate  went  on 
with  the  trial,  and  this  innocent  gentleman  was  condemned 
to  be  burnt  at  St.  Andrew's.     He  died  with  amazing  firm- 
ness and  resolution  :  and  it  is  averred  by  some  writers,  that 
he  prophesied  in  the  midst  of  the  flames,  not  only  the  ap- . 
proaching  death  of  the  cardinal,  but  the  circumstances  also, 
that  should  attend  it.     Buchanan's  account  is  as  follows : 
After  relating  the  manner  in  which  Mr.  Wishart  spent  the 
morning  of  his  execution,  be  proceeds  thus :  "  A  while  af- 
ter two  (executioners  were  sent  to  him  by  the  cardinal ;  one 
of  them  put  a  black  linen  shirt  upon  him,  and  the  other 
bound  many  little  bags  of  gun-powder  to  all  the  parts  of 
his  body.     In  this  dress  they  brought  him  forth,  and  com- 
manded him  to  stay  in  the  governor's  outer  chamber,  and 
at  the  same  time  they  erected  a  wooden  scaffold  in  the 
court  before  the  castle,  and  made  up  a  pile  of  wood.     Thp 
windows  and  balconies  over  against  it  were  all  hung  with 
tapestry  and  silk  hangings,  with  cushions  for  the  cardinal 
and  his  train,  to  behold  and  take  pleasure  in  the  joyful 
sight,  even  the  torture  of  an  innocent  man  ;  thus  courting 
the  favour  of  the  people  as  the  author  of  so  notable  a  deed. 
There  was  also  a  great  guard  of  soldiers,  not  so  much  to 
{secure  the  execution,  as  for  a  vain  ostentation  of  power ; 


BEATON.  341 

fend  beside,  brass  guns  were  placed  up  and  down  in  all 
convenient  places  of  the  castle.     Thus,  while  the  trutppets 
sounded,  George  was  brought  forth,  mounted  the  scaffold, 
and  was  fastened  with  a  cord  to  the  stake,  and  haying, 
scarce  leave  to  pray  for  the  church  of  God,  the  execu- 
tioners fired  the  wood,  which  immediately  taking  hold  of 
the  powder  that  was  tied  about  him,  blew  it  up  into  flame 
and  smoke.     The  governor  of  the  castle,  who  stood  so 
near  that  be  was  singed  with  the  flame,  exhorted  him  in  a 
few  words  to  be  of  good  cheer,  and  to  ask  pardon  of  God 
for  his  offences*     To  whom  he  replied,  (  This  flame  occa- 
sions trouble  to  my  body  indeed,  but  it  hath  in  no  wise 
broken  my  spirit;  but  he,  wh$  now  looks  down  so  proudly 
upon  me  from  yonder  lofty  place  (pointing  to  the  cardinal), 
shall  ere  long  be  as  ignominiously  thrown  down,  as  now  he 
proudly    lolls  at  his  ease.'     Having  thus  spoken,    they 
straitened  the  rope  which  was  tied  about  his  neck,  and 
so  strangled  him  ;  his  body  in  a  few  hours  being  consumed 
to  ashes  in  the  flame.9' 

This  prophecy,  however,  is  called  in  question  by  others* 
who  treat  it  as  a  story  invented  after  the  cardinal's  death. 
Archbishop  Spotswood  and  Mr.  Petrie  follow  fiuchanaa 
in  regard  to  the  circumstances  of  Mr.  Wishart's  deatt  and 
his  prophecy.     On  the  other  side,  Mr.  Keith  suggests  that 
the  story  is  very  doubtful,  if  not  false.     "  I  confess,"  says 
he,  "  I  give  but  small  credit  to  this,  and  to  some  other 
persons  that   suffered  for  religion  in  our  country,    and 
which  upon  that  account  I  hive  all  along  omitted  to  nar- 
rate.    I  own  I  think  them  ridiculous  enough,  and  seem- 
ingly contrived,  at  least  magnified,  on  purpose  to  render 
the  judges  and  clergymen  of  that  time  odious  and  despi- 
cable in  the  eyes  of  men.    And  as  to  this  passage  concern* 
ins  Mr.  Wishart,,  it  may  be  noticed,  that 'there  is  not  one 
word  of  it  to  be  met  with  in  the  first  edition  of  Mr.  Knox's 
History ;  and  if  the  thing  had  been  true  in  fact,  I  cannot 
^ee  how  Mr.  Knox,  who  was  so  good  an  acquaintance  of  Mr* 
Wishart's,  and  no  farther  distant  from  the  place  of  his  ex- 
ecution than  East  Lothian,  and  w}jo  continued  some  months 
?long  with  the  murderers  of  cardinal  Beaton  in  the  castle 
of  St*  Andrew's,  could  either  be  ignorant  of  the  story,  or 
neglect  in  history  so  remarkable  a  prediction.    And  it  has 
even  its  own  weight,  that  sir  David  Lindsay,  who  lived  at 
that  time,  and  wrote  a  poem  called  '  The  tragedy  of  car- 
dinal Beaton,'  in  which  he  rakes  together  all  the  worst 
VoXm  IV.  R 


242  BEATON. 

things  that  could  be  suggested  against  this  pfelate,  yet 
makes  no  mention  either  of  his  glutting  himself  inhumanly 
with  the  spectacle  of  Mr.  Wishart' s  death,  nor  of  any  pro- 
phetical interiftination  made  by  Mr.  Wishart  concerning' 
the  cardinal ;  nor  does  Mr.  Fox  take  notice  of  either  of 
these  circumstances,  so  that  I  am  much  of  the  mind,  that 
it  has  been  a  story  trumped  up  a  good  time  after  the  mur-* 
der." 

This  proceeding,  however,  made  a  great  noise  through- 
out the  kingdom  ;  the  zealous  papists  applauded  his  con- 
duct, and  the  pfotestants  exclaimed  against  him  as  a  mur- 
derer ;  but  the  cardinal  was  pleased  with  himself,  imagin- 
ing he  had  given  a  fatal  btow  to  heresy,  and  that  be  had 
struck  a  terror  into  his  enemies. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Wishart,  the  cardinal  went 
to  Finhaven,  the  seat  of  the  earl  of  Crawford,  to  solemnize 
a  marriage  between  the  eldest  son  of  that  nobleman  and  his1 
daughter  Margaret.     Whilst  he  was  thus  employed,  intel- 
ligence came  that  the  king  of  England  was  making  great 
preparations  to  invade   the   Scottish   coasts.     Upon  this 
he  immediately  returned  to  St.  Andrew's,  and  appointed  & 
day  for  the  nobility  and  gentry  of  that  country,  which  lies 
much  exposed  to  the  sea,  to  meet  and  consult  what  was 
proper  to  be  done  upon  this  occasion.     He  likewise  began 
to  fortify  his  own  castle  much  stronger  than  ever  it  had  been 
before.     Whilst  he  was  busy  about  these  matters,  there 
came  to  him  Norman  Lesley,  eldest  son  to  the  earl  of 
Rothes,  to  solicit  him  for  some  favour ;  who,  having  met 
with  a  refusal,  was  highly  exasperated,  and  went  away  in 
great  displeasure.     His  uncle '  Mr.  John  Lesley,  a  violent 
enemy  to  the  cardinal,  greatly  aggravated  this  injury  to  his 
nephew ;  who,  being  passionate  and  of  a  daring  spirit,  en- 
tered into  a  conspiracy  with  his.  uncle  and  some  other  per- 
sons to  cut  off  the  cardinal.     The  accomplices  met  early 
in  the  morning,  on  Saturday  the  29th  of  May.     The  first 
thing  they  did  was  to  seize  the  porter  of  the  castle,  and  to 
secure  the  gate :  they  then  turned  out  all  the  servants  and 
several  workmen.     This  was  performed  with  so  little  noise, 
that  the  cardinal  was  not  waked  till  they  knocked  at  hit 
chamber  door ;  upon  which  he  cried  out,  "  Who  is  there?" 
John  Lesley  answered,  "  My  name  is  Lesley."     "  Which 
Lesley  ?'*  replied  the  cardinal,  "  Is  it  Norman  ?"     It  was  * 
answered,  "  that  he  must  open  the  door  to  those  who  were 
there ;"  but  being  afraid,  he  secured  the  door  in  the  best 


fiEATON.  243 

manner  he  could.    Whilst  they  were  endeavouring  to  force 
it  open,  the  cardinal  called  to  them,  "  Will  you  have  my 
life  ?"  John  Lesley  answered,  "  Perhaps  we  will."  "  N^y," 
replied  the  cardinal,  "  swear  unto  me,  and  I  will  open  it.'* 
Some  authors  say,  that  upon  a  promise  being  given  that 
no  violence  should  be  offered,  he  opened  the  door;  but 
however  this  be,  as  soon  as  they  entered,  John  Lesley 
smote  him  twice  or  thrice,  as  did  likewise  Peter  Carmi- 
chael ;    but  James  Melvil,  as  Mr.  Knox  relates  the  fact, 
perceiving  them  to  be  in  choler,  said,  "This  work  and 
judgment  of  God,  although  it  be  secret,  ought  to  be  done 
with  greater  gravity;    and,  presenting  the  point  of  his 
sword,  said,  Repent  thee  of  thy  wicked  life,  but  especially 
of  the  shedding  the  blood  of  that  notable  instrument  of 
God,  Mr.  George  Wishart,  which  albeit  the  flame  of  fire 
consumed  before  men,  yet  cries  it  for  vengeance  upon 
thee ;  and  we  from  God  are  sent  to  revenge  it.     For  here, 
before  my  God,  I  protest,  that  neither  the  hatred  of  thy 
person,  the  love  of  thy  riches,  nor  the  fear  of  any  trouble 
thou  couldst  have  done  to  me  in  particular,  moved  or 
moveth  me  to  sti^ke  thee ;  but  only  because' thou  hast  been, 
and  remainest,  an  obstinate  enemy   against  Christ  Jesus 
and  his  holy  gospel."     After  having  spoken  thus,  he  stab- 
bed him  twice  or  thrice  through  the  body  :  thus  fell  that 
famous  prelate,  a  man  of  great  parts,  but  of  pride  and 
ambition  boundless,  and  withal  an  eminent  instance  of  the 
instability  of  what  the  world  calls  fortune.     This  event  is 
said  to  have  taken  place  May  29,   1546.     Though  cardinal 
Beaton's  political  abilities  were  undoubtedly  of  the  highest 
kind,  and  some  false  stories  may  have  been  told  concern- 
ing him,  it  is  certain  that  his  ambition  was  unbounded, 
that  his  insolence  was  carried  to  the  greatest  pitch,  and 
that  his  character,  on  the  whole,  was  extremely  detestable. 
His  violence,  as  a  persecutor,  must  ever  cause  his  memory 
to  be  held  in  abhorrence,  by  all  who  have  any  feelings  of 
humanity,  or  any  regard  for  religious  liberty.     It  is  to  the 
honour  of  Mr.  Guthrie,  that,  in  his  History  of  Scotland, 
he  usually  speaks  of  our  prelate  with  indignation. 

With  respect  to  the  story  of  cardinal  Beaton's  having 
forged  king  James  the  Fifth's  will,  the  fact  is  considered 
as  an  undoubted  one,  by  the  generality  of  modern,  as  well 
as  the  more  early  historians.  Dr.  Robertson  and  Mr.  Gu- 
thrie both  speak  of  it  in  this  light.  Mr.  Hume,  in  the 
following  words,  expresses  himself  with  a  certain  degree 

R2 


244  BEATON. 

of  caution  upon  the  subject.  *f  He  (Beaton)  forged,  it  i* 
said,  a  will  for  the  king,  appointing  himself,  and  three 
noblemen,  regents  of  the  kingdom  during  the  minority  of 
the  infant  princess :  at  least,'  for  historians  are  not  well 
agreed  in  the  circumstances  of  the  fact,  he  had  read  to 
James  a  paper  of  that  import,  to  which  that  monarch,  du- 
ring the  delirium  which  preceded  his  death,  bad  given  an 
imperfect  assent  and  approbation." 

The  story  of  Wishart's  prediction,  concerning  the  fate 
of  his  malignant  persecutor,  seems  to  be  controverted  on 
good  grounds.  If  there  be  any  thing  in  the  fact,  it  cer- 
tainly was  not  a  prophecy  properly  so  called,  but  a  mere 
denunciation  of  the  divine  vengeance,  which  Wish  art 
might  naturally  think  would  fall  upon  the  cardinal  for  his 
iniquities.  He  could  not  but  know,  too,  how  hateful 
Beaton  was  to  many  persons,  and  that  he  might  be'  ex* 

Sected  to  become  a  victim  to  his  arrogance  and  cruelty. 
Ir.  Hume,  who  admits  the  prediction,  says  that  it  was 
probably  the  immediate  cause  of  the  event  which  it  fore* 
told.  Whatever  becomes  of  this  part  of  the  story  concern- 
ing Wishart's  martyrdom,  the  other  part  of  it,  relative  to 
the  cardinal's  viewing  the  execution  from  a  window,  is 
highly  credible,  and  perfectly  suitable  to  his  character. 

The  sons  of  the  archbishop  were  James,  Alexander,  and 
John.  They  were  all  legitimated  iu  his  own  life-time,  and 
are  termed  the  natural  sons  of  the  right  reverend,  &c. 

We  shall  add  Dr.  Robertson's  character  of  our  prelate, 
when  he  mentions  his  pretensions  to  the  regency,  "  The 
cardinal  was  by  nature  of  immoderate  ambition ;  by  long 
experience  He  had  acquired  address  and  refinement ;  and 
insolence  grew  upon  him  from  continual  success.  His 
high  station  in  the  Church  placed  him  in  the  way  of  great 
employments ;  his  abilities  were  equal  to  the  greatest  of 
these;  nor  did  he  reckon  any  of  them  to  be  above  his 
merit.  As  his  own  eminence  was  founded  upon  the  power 
of  the  Church  of  Rome,  he  was  a  zealous  defender  of  that 
superstition,  and  for  the  same  reason  an  avowed  enemy  to 
the  doctrine  of  the  reformers.  Political  motives  alone  de- 
termined him  to  support  the  one  or  to  oppose  the  other. 
His  early  application  to  public  business  kept  him  unac- 
quainted with  the  learning  and  controversies  of  the  age ; 
He  gave  judgment,  however,  upon  all  points  in  dispute* 
with  a  precipitancy,  "violence,  and  rigour,  which  conteoa? 
porary  historian;  mention  with  indignation." 


BEATON.  245 

Cardinal  Beaton  wrote,  if  we  may  depend  upon  Demp- 
ster, "Memoirs  of  his  own  Embassies;"  "  a  treatise  of 
Peter's  primacy,"  which  had  been  seen  by  William  Bar- 
clay, and  "  Letters  to  several  persons :"  Of  these  last  there 
are  still  some  copies,  said  to  be  preserved  in  the  library  of 
the  French  king.  * 

BEATON,  BETON,  or  BETHUNE   (James),  archbi- 
shop of  St  Andrew's  in  the  reign  of  James  V.  was  uncle  to 
the  preceding.     We  have  no  certain  account  of  his  birth, 
or  of  the  manner  of  his  education,  except  that,  being  a 
younger  brother,  be  was  from  his  infancy  destined  for  the 
church.     He  had  great  natural  talents,  and   having  im- 
proved them  by  the  acquisition  of  the  learning  fashionable 
in  those  times,  he  came  early  into  the  world,  under  the. 
title   of  Provost  of  Bothwell ;    a  preferment  given  him 
through  the  interest  of  his  family.     He  received  his  first 
benefice  in  1503,  and  next  year  was  advanced  to  the  rich 
preferment  of  abbot  of  DumferlirigP     In  1505,  upon  the 
death  of  sir  David  Beaton,  his  brother,  his  majesty  ho- 
noured him  with  the  staff  of  high-  treasurer^  and  he  was 
thenceforward  considered  as  one  of  the  principal  statesmen.. 
In  1508  he  was  promoted  to  the  bishopric  of  Galloway,  and 
before  be  had  sat  a  full  year  in  that  cathedral  chair,  he 
was  removed  to  the   archiepiscopal  see   of  Glasgow,  on 
which  he  resigned  the  treasurer'?  staff,  in  order  to  be  more 
at  leisure  to  mind  the  government  of  his  diocese :  and  in- 
deed it  is  universally  acknowledged,  that  none  more  care- 
fully attended  the  duties  of  his  functions  than  archbishop 
Beaton  while  he  continued  at  Glasgow;  and  he  has  left 
there  such  marks  of  concern  for  that  church,  as  have  baf- 
fled time,   and  the  rage  of  a  distracted  populace;   the 
monuments  of  his  piety  and  public  spirit  which  he  raised 
at  Glasgow,  still  remaining  to  justify  this  part  of  his  cha- 
racter.    It  does  not  appear  that  he  had  afty  hand  in  the 
counsels  which  jdrove  king  James  IV.  into  a  fatal  war  with 
England.     On  the  death  of  this  monarch  in  the  battle  of 
'lodden-field,  the  regent  John  duke  of  Albany  appointed 
our  prelate  to  be  high-chancellor.     In  1523  he  became 
archbishop  of  St.  Andrew's,  not  only  by  the  favour  of  the 
regent,  but  with  the  full  consent  of  the  young  king,  who' 
was  then,  and  all  his  life,  much  under  the  influence  of  the 
archbishop's  nephew  David,  the  subject  of  the  preceding 

.  I  Bitfg.  Brit.— Mackenzie*!  Scotch  writers,  jol.  HI.  1&~ Home  wid  Bttart* 
coo's  Histories,  fco. 


246  BEATON. 

article.  The  power  of  the  regent,  however,  being  abro- 
gated by  parliament,  and  the  earl  of  Angus  having  placed 
himself  at  the  head  of  government,  our  archbishop  was 
dismissed  the  court,  and  obliged  to  resign  the  office  of 
chancellor;,  but  when  the  Douglases  were  driven  from 
court,  and  the  king  recovered  his  freedom,  the  archbishop 
came  again  into  power,  although  he  did  not  recover  the 
office  of  chancellor.  He  now  resided  principally  at  the  pa- 
lace of  St.  Andrew's,  and,  as  some  say,  at  the  instigation 
of  his  nephew,  the  cardinal,  proceeded  with  great  vio- 
lence against  the  protestants,  and  is  particularly  account- 
able for  the  death  of  Patrick  Hamilton,  the  protomartyr  of 
Scotland,  a  young  man  of  piety,  talents,  and  high  birth, 
whom  he  procured  to  be  burnt  to  death,  although  it  is  but 
justice  to  add  that  the  same  sentence  was  subscribed  by 
the  other  archbishop,  three  bishops,  six  abbots  and  friars,  ; 
and  eight  divines.  He  is  even  said  to  have  had  some  de- 
gree of  aversion  to  such  proceedings.  The  .clergy,  how- 
ever, were  for  stopping  the  mouths  of  such  as  preached 
what  they  disliked,  in  the  same  manner  as  they  had  done 
Hamilton's.  The  archbishop  moved  but  heavily  in  these 
kind  of  proceedings ;  and  there  are  two  very  remarkable 
stories  recorded  to  have  happened  about  this  time,  which 
very  plainly  shew  he  was  far  enough  from  being  naturally 
inclined  to  such  severities.  It  happened  at  one  of  their 
consultations,  that  some  who  were  most  vehement  pressed 
for  going  on  with  the  proceedings  in  the  Archbishop's 
court,  when  one  Mr.  John  Lindsey,  a  man  in  great  credit 
with  the  archbishop,  delivered  himself  to  this  purpose ; 
"  If  you  burn  any  more  of  them,  take  my  advice,  and  burn 
them  in  cellars,  for  I  dare  assure  you,  that  the  smoke  of 
Mr.  Patrick  Hamilton  has  infected  all  that  it  blew  upon." 
The  other  was  of  a  more  .serious  nature;  one  Alexander 
Seton,  a  black  friar,  preached  openly  in  the  church  of  St 
Andrew's,  that,  according  to  St  Paul's  description  of  bu 
shops,  there  were  no  bishops  in  Scotland,  which  being  re- 
ported to  the  archbishop,  not  in  very  precise  terms,  h§ 
sent  for  Mr.  Seton,  ancf  reproved  him  sharply  for  having 
said,  according  to  his  information,  "  That  a  bishop  who 
did  not  preach  was  but  a  dumb  dog,  who  fed  not  the  flock^ 
but  fed  his  own  belly."  Mr.  Seton  said,  that  those  who 
had  reported  this  were  liars,  upon  which  witnesses  were 
produced,  who  testified  very  positively  to  the  fact.  Mr. 
Setoo,  by  way  of  reply,  delivered  himself  thus :    "  My 


BEATON.  247 

lord,  you  have  heard,  and  may  consider,  what  ears  these 
asses  have,  who  cannot  discern  between  Paul,  Isaiah,  Za- 
chariah,  Malachi,  and  friar  Alexander  Seton.  In  truth, 
my  lord,  1  did  preach  that  Paul  saith,  it  behoveth  a  bishop 
to  be  a  teacher.  Isaiah  saith,  that  they  that  feed  not  the 
flock  are  dumb  dogs ;  and  the  prophet  Zachariah  saith, 
that  they  are  idle  pastors.  Of  my  own  head  I  affirmed  no- 
thing, but  declared  what  the  Spirit  of  God  before  pro- 
nounced ;  at  whom,  my  lord,  if  you  be  not  offended,  you 
cannot  justly  be  offended  with  me."  How  much  soever  the 
bishop  might  be  incensed,  he  dismissed  friar  Seton  with- 
out hurt,  who  soon  afterwards  fled  out  of  the  kingdom., 
It  does  not  appear,  that  from  this  time  the  archbishop 
acted  much  in  these  measures  himself,  but  chose  rather  to 
grant  commissions  to  others  that  were  inclined  to  proceed 
against  such  as  preached  the  doctrines  of  the  reformation, 
a  conduct  which  seems  very  fully  to  justify  the  remark  of 
archbishop  Spots  wood  upon  our  prelate's  behaviour.  "  Se- 
venteen years,"  says  he,  "  he  lived  bishop  of  this  see,  and 
was  herein  most  unfortunate,  that  under  the  shadow  of  his 
authority  many  good  men  were  put  to  death  for  the  cause 
of  religion,  though  h$  himself  was  neither  violently  set, 
nor  much  solicitous  (as  it  was  thought)  bow  matters  went  in 
the  church." 

In  the  promotion  of  learning,  he  shewed  a  real  concern, 
by  founding  the  New-college  in  the  university  of  St.  An- 
drew's, which  he  did  not  live  to  finish,  and  to  which, 
though  he  left  the  best  part  of  his  estate,  yet  after  his 
death  it  was  misapplied,  and  did  not  come,  as  he  intended, 
jto  that  foundation.  One  of  the  last  acts  of  his  life  was  the 
being  present  at  the  baptism  of  the  young  prince,  born  at 
St.  Andrew's  the  very  year  in  which  he  died.  His  nephew 
acted  for  several  years  as  his  co-adjutor,  and  bad  the  whole 
management  of  affairs  in  his  hands  ;  but  the  king  retained 
to  the  last  so  great  an  affection  for  the  archbishop,  that  he 
allowed  hiqa  to  dispose  of  all  his  preferments,  by  which 
means,  his  relation,  George  Drury,  obtained  the  rich  abbey 
of  Dumferline,  and  one  Mr.  Hamilton,  of  the  house  of 
Roplock,  became  Abbot  of  Killwinning.  Our  archbishop 
deceased  in  1539,  and  was  interred  in  the  cathedral  church 
of  St  Andrew's  before  the  high  altar.  He  enjoyed  the 
primacy  of  Scotland  sixteen  years,  and  his  character  is 
very  differently  represented,  according  to  the  dispositions 
of  those  who  have  mentioned  him  in  their  writings ;  but 


24S  BEATON. 

upon  the  whole  more  favourably  than  that  of  his  nephew, 
the  cardinal. l 

BEATON  (James),  another  nephew  of  the  preceding, 
and  archbishop  of  Glasgow,  was  educated  chiefly  at  Paris, 
and  was  early  employed  in  political  affairs  *,  but  we  have 
no  account  of  the  various  steps  by  which  he  arrived  at  the 
archbishopric  of  Glasgow,  to  which  he  was  consecrated  in 
1552,  as  some  writers  report,  at  Rome,  whither  he  was 
very  probably  sent,  to  lay  before  the  pope  ah  account  of 
the  ecclesiastical  affairs  in  Scotland  after  the  murder  of 
his  uncle.     He  was,  however,  no  sooner  advanced  to  this 
dignity  than  he  began  to  be  considered  as  one  of  the  ablest 
as  well  as  most  powerful  persons  in  the  kingdom.     In  1557, 
he  was  one  of  the  commissioners  appointed  to  witness  the 
marriage  of  the.  young  qtfeen  Mary  to  the  dauphin  of 
France,  a  commission  to  which  the  historians  of  the  time 
affix  great  importance.     After  his  return,  he  acted  as  a 
privy-counsellor  to  the  queen  dowager,  who  was  appointed 
by  her  daughter  regent  of  Scotland,  and   laboured,  al- 
though in  vain,  to  preserve  internal  peace.     When  th$ 
reformers  became  powerful  enough  to  make  a  successful 
stand  against  the  court,  our  archbishop  retired  to  France, 
carrying  with  him  the  treasures  and  records  of  the  archie* 
piscopal  see,  and  carefully  deposited  them  in  the  Scots 
college  in  Paris.     On  his  arrival  in  France,  he  was  ex- 
tremely .well  received  by  queen  Mary,  then  sovereign  of 
that  country,  and  by  the  court  of  France.     Immediately 
after  his  departure,  the  reformers  in  Scotland  appointed  a 
preacher  at  Glasgow,  seized  all  the  revenues  of  the  arch- 
bishopric, and  would  no  doubt  have  proceeded  against  his 
person  had  he  appeared. 

When  it  was  found  that  he  could  not  return  in  safety, 
Mary,  now  a  widow,  and  inclined  to  visit  her  hereditary 
dominions,  determined  to  secure  his  services  and  residence 
in  France,  by  making  him  her  ambassador  to  the  French 
court,  which  she  first  declared  in  1561,  and  confirmed 
in  1564.  Under  this  commission  he  acted  as  long  as  he 
lived,  and  the  papers  and  letters  he  preserved  would  have 
no  doubt  formed  valuable  materials  for  future  historians ; 
4>ut  there  is  reason  to  think  the  greater  part  have  been 
taken  away -or  destroyed.  While  he  remained  at  Paris,  as 
embassador  of  Scotland,  he  received  very  little,  if  any 

%  Bio;.  Brit 


BEATON.  24* 

thing,  from  thence :  for  we  find  Mr.  James  Boyd  appointed 
•uperintendant  of  that  diocese  after  the  death  of  Mr.  WiU 
lock ;  and  upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Boyd  in  1578,  it  was  be* 
stowed  on  Mr.  Robert  Montgomery,  who,  in  1587  resigned 
it  to  Mr.  Erskine,  by  whom  the  best  part  of  the  revenues 
of  the  see  were  granted  away  to  the  family  of  Lenox.  But 
not  long  after,  king  James  VI.  becoming  of  age,  and  hav- 
ing a  full  account  of  our  author's  fidelity  to  his  mother,  re- 
stored him  both  to  the  title  and  estate  of  his  archbishopric, 
of  which  he  had  been  so  long  deprived.  Before  this,  how* 
ever,  he  had  obtained  several  ecclesiastical  preferments  in! 
France,  for  the  support  of  his  dignity,  which  he  enjoyed 
as  long  as  he  lived,  king  James  continuing  him  there  as 
his  ambassador,  to  whom  he  rendered  many  important  ser- 
vices. He  was  universally  and  deservedly  esteemed  for  his 
learning,  loyalty,  and  hearty  affection  to  his  country. 
He  was  uniform  in  his  conduct,  sincere  in  his  religion,  and 
unblameable  in  his  morals,  and  lived  in  credit  abroad,  be- 
loved and  admired  by  all  parties,  and  left  his  memory  un- 
stained to  posterity.  He  died  April  24,  1603,  aged 
eighty-six,  and  was  succeeded  in  his  see  by  the  celebrated 
Spotswood.  Archbishop  Beaton  is  said,  by  Dempster,  to 
have  written,  1.  "  A  Commentary  on  the  book  of  Kings.1* 
2.  "  A  Lamentation  for  the  kingdom  of  Scotland."  3. 
u  A  book  of  Controversies  against  the  Sectaries.'*  4.  "Ob* 
servations  upon  Gratian's  Decretals:"  and  5.  "  A  collec- 
tion of  Scotch  proverbs."  None  of  these  have  been 
printed.  * 

BEATTIE  (James),  LL.D.  an  eminent  philosopher, 
critic,  and  poet,  was  born  at  Laurencekirk,  in  the  county 
of  Kincardine,  Scotland,  on  the  25th  day  of  October,  1735. 
His  father,  who  was  a  farmer  of  no  considerable  rank,  is  said 
to  have  had  a  turn  for  reading  and  for  versifying;  but,  as 
he  died  in  1742,  when  his  son  was  only  seven  years  of  age, 
could  have  had  no  great  share  in  forming  his  mind.  James 
was  sent  early  to  the  only  school  his  birth-place  afforded, 
where  he  passed  his  time  under  the  instructions  of  a.  tutor 
named  Milne,  whom  he  used  to  represent  as  a  "  good 
grammarian,  and  tolerably  skilled  in  the  Latin  language, 
but  destitute  of  taste,  as  well  as  pf  some  other  qualifications 
essential  to  a  good  teacher.19  '  He  is  said  to  have  preferred 
Ovid  as  a  school-author,  whom  Mr.  Beattie  afterwards 

»  Biog.  Brit 


WQ  BBVTTU 

gladly  exchanged  for  Virgil.  Virgil  he  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  read  with  great  delight  in  Ogilvy's  and  Dryden'p 
translations,  as  he  did  Homer  in  that  of  Pope ;  and  these, 
with  Thomson'^  Seasons,  and  Milton's  Paradise  Lost,  of 
all  which  he  was  very  early  fond,  probably  gave  him  that 
taste  for  poetry  which  he  afterwards  cultivated  with  so 
much  success.  He  was  already,  according  to  his  biogra- 
pher, inclined  to  making  verses,  and  among  his  schoolfel- 
lows went  by  the  name  of  The  Poet. 

At  this  school  he  made  great  proficiency  by  unremitting 
diligence9  and  appeared  to  much  advantage  on  his  entering* 
Marischal  college,  Aberdeen,  in  1749,  where  he  obtained 
the  first  of  those  bursaries  or  exhibitions  which  were  left  for 
the  use  of  students  whose  parents  are  unable  to  support  the 
entire  expences  of  academical  education.  Here  he  first 
studied  Qreek^  under  principal  Thomas  Blackwell,  author  of 
the  "  Inquiry  into  the  Life  and  Writings  of  Homer,"  &c.  who 
with  much  of  the  austerity  of  pedantry,  was  kind  to  his  di- 
ligent scholars,  and  found  in  Mr,  Beattie  a  disposition 
worthy  of  cultivation  and  of  patronage.  In  the  following 
year  he  bestowed  on  him  the  premium  for  the  best  Greek 
analysis,  which  happened  to  be  part  of  the  fourth  book  of 
the  Odyssey,  and  at  the  close  of  the  session  1749*50,  he^ 
gave  him  a  book  elegantly  bound,  with  the  following  iji^ 
scription :  "  Jacobo  Beattie,  in  prima  classe,  ex  comitatu 
Mernensi*,  post  examen  publicum  librum  hunc  afirzvovli, 
praeinium  dedit  T.  Blackwell,  Aprilis  3*  MDCCL."  The 
other  professor,  with  whom  Mr.  Beattie  was  particularly 
connected,  was  the  late  Dr.  Alexander  Qeraad,  author  of 
li  The  genius  and  evidences  of  Christianity ;"  "  Essays  on 
Taste  and  Genius;9'  and  other  works.  Under  these 
gentlemen  our  author's  proficiency,  both  at  college  and 
during  the  vacations,  was  very  exemplary,  and  he  accumu- 
lated a  much  more  various  stock  of  general  knowledge  than 
is  usual  with  young  men  whose  ultimate  destination  is  the 
church.  The  delicacy  of  his  health  requiring  amusement, 
he  found,  as  he  supposed,  all  that  amusement  can  give,  in 
cultivating  his  musical  talents,  which  were  very  consider- 
able.' 

The  only  science  in  which  he  made  no  extraordinary 
proficiency,  was  mathematics,  in  which  although  he  per- 
formed the  requisite  tasks,  he.  was  eager  to  return  to  sub* 

*  "  The  Mearns,"  the  vernacular  name  of  the  county  of  Kincardine. 


BEATTIE,  351 

jects  of  taste  or  general  literature.  In  every  other  branch' 
of  academical  study,  be  never  was  satisfied  with  what  he 
learned  within  the  walls  of  the  college.  His  private  read- 
ing was  extensive  and  various,  and  he  became  insensibly 
partial  to  the  cultivation  of  those  branches  on  which  his 
future  celebrity  was  to  depend. 

In  1753,  having  gone  through  every  preparatory  course 
of  study,  he  took  the  degree  of  M.  A.  and  hacl  now  tech- 
nically finished  his  education.  Having  hitherto  been  sup- 
ported by  the  generous  kindness  of  an  elder  brother,  he 
wished  to  exonerate  his  family  from  any  farther  burden. 
With  this  laudable,  view,  there  being  a  vacancy  for  the  of- 
fice of  school-master  and  parish-clerk  to  the  parish  of  For- 
doun,  adjoining  to  Laurencekirk,  he  accepted  the  appoint* 
ment,  August  1,  1753  ;  but  this  was  neither  suited  to  his 
disposition,  nor  advantageous  to  his  progress  in  life.  He 
obtained  in  this  place,  however,  a  few  friends,  particu- 
larly lord  Gardenstown  and  lord  Monboddo,  who  ho- 
noured him  with  encouraging  notice ;  and  his  imagination 
was  delighted  by  the  beautiful  and  sublime  scenery  of 
the  place,  which  he  appears  to  have  contemplated  with 
the  eye  of  a  poet.  His  leisure  hours  he  employed  on 
-  some,  poetical  attempts,  which,  as  they  were  published  in 
the  "  Scots  Magazine,"  with  his  initials,  and  sometimes 
with  his  place  of  abode,  must  have  contributed  to  make 
him  yet  better  known  and  respected. 

The  church  of  Scotland  was  at  this  time  the  usual  re- 
source of  well-educated  young  men,  and  with  their  acade- 
mical Stores  in  full  memory,  there  were  few  difficulties  to 
be  surmounted  before  their  entrance  on  the  sacred  office* 
Although  this  church  presents  no  temptations  to  ambition, 
Mr.  Beanie  appears  to  have  regarded  it  as  the  only  means 
by  which  he  could  obtain  an  independent  rank  in  life.  He 
returned,  therefore,  during  the  winter,  to  Marischal  col- 
lege, and  attended  the  divinity  lectures  of  Dr.  Robert  Pol- 
lock, of  that  coljege,  and  of  professor  John  Lumsden,  of 
King's,  and  performed  the  exercises  required  by  the  rules 
of  both.  One  of  his  fellow-students  informed  sir  William 
Forbes,  that  during  their  atteqdance  at  the  divinity- hall, 
he  heard  Mr.  Bpattie  deliver  a  discourse,  which  met  with 
much  commendation,  but  of  which  it  was  remarked  by  the 
audience,  that  he  spoke  poetry  in  prose. 

While  the  church  seemed  his  only  prospect,  and  one 
which  he  never  contemplated  with  satisfaction,  there  oc- 
curred, in  1757,  a  vacancy  for  one  of  the  masters  of  the 


%5%  BEATTIE. 

grammar  school  of  Aberdeen,  a  situation  of  considerable 
importance  in  all  respects.  On  this  occasion  Mr.  Beattie 
was  advised  to  become  a  candidate ;  but  he  was  diffident  of 
his  qualifications,  and  did  not  think  himself  so  retentive  of 
the,  grammatical  niceties  of  the  Latin  language  as  to  be  able 
to  answer  readily  any  question  that  might  be  put  to  him  by 
older  and  more  experienced  judges.  In  every  part  of  life, 
it  may  be  here  observed,  Mr.  Beattie  appears  to  have  formed 
an  exact  estimate  of  his  own  talents  ;  and  in  the  present 
instance  he  failed  just  where  he  expected  to  fail,  rather  in 
the  circumstantial  than  the  essential  requisites  for  the  situ- 
ation to  which  he  aspired.  The  other  candidate  was  accor- 
dingly preferred.  .  But  Mr.  Beattie's  attempt  was  attended 
with  so  little  loss  of  reputation,  that  a  second  vacancy  oc- 
curring a  few  months  after,  and  two  candidates  appearing, 
both  unqualified  for  the  office,  it  was  presented  to  him  by 
the  magistrates  in  the  most  handsome  manner,  without  the 
form  of  a  trial,  and  he  immediately  entered  upon  it  in  June 
1758. 

He  had  not  been  long  an  u§her  at  this  school  before  he 
published  a  volume  of  poems.  An  author's  first  appear- 
ance is  always  an  important  era;  Mr.  Beattie's  was  cer- 
tainly attended  with  circumstances  that  are  not  now  com- 
mon. This  volume  was  announced  to  the  public  in  a  more 
humble  manner  than  the  present  state  of  literature  is 
thought  to  demand  in  similar  cases.  On  the  1 3th  of  March 
1760,  not  the  volume  itself,  but  "  Proposals  for  printing 
original  Poems  and  Translations,"  were  issued.  The  poems 
appeared  accordingly,  on  Feb.  16,  1761,  and  were  pub- 
lished both  in  London  and  Edinburgh.  They  consisted 
partly  of  originals,  and  partly  of  the  pieces  formerly  printed 
in  the  Scots  Magazine,  but  altered  and  corrected,  a  prac- 
tice which  Mr.  Beattie  carried  almost  to  excess  in  all  his 
poetical  works. 

The  praise  bestowed  on  this  volume  was  very  flattering. 
The  English  critics,  who  then  bestowed  the  rewards  of  li- 
terature, considered  it  as  an  acquisition  to  the  republic  of 
letters,  and  pronounced  that  since  Mr.  Gray  (whom  in  their 
opinion  Mr.  Beattie  had  chosen  for  his  model)  they  had 
not  met  with  a  poet  of  more  harmonious  numbers,  more 
pleasing  imagination,  or  more  spirited  expression.  But 
notwithstanding  praises  which  so  evidently  tended  to  give  a 
-currency  to  the  poems,  and  which  were  probably  repeated 
with  eagerness  by  the  friends  who  had  encouraged  the  pub* 


B  E  A  T  T  I  E.  2S3 

lication,  the  author,  upon  more  serious  consideration,  was 
so  dissatisfied  with  this  volume  as  to  destroy  every  copy  he 
could  procure,  and  some  years  after,  when  his  taste  and 
judgment  became  fully  matured,  he  refused  to  acknowledge 
above  four  of  them,  namely,  Retirement,  ode  to  Hope, 
elegy  on  a  Lady,  and  the  Hares,  and  these  he  almost  re- 
wrote before  he  would  permit  them  to  be  printed  with  the 
Minstrel. 

But  notwithstanding  the  lowly  opinion  of  th$  author, 
these  poems  contributed  so  much  to  the  general  reputation 
he  had  acquired,  that  he  was  considered  as  deserving  of  a 
higher  rank.  Accordingly  a  vacancy  happening  in  Maris- 
cbal  college,  his  friends  made  such  earnest  applications  in 
his  behalf,  that  in  September  1760  he  was  appointed,  by 
his  late  majesty's  patent,  professor  of  philosophy.  His  de- 
partment in  this  honourable  office  extended  to  moral  phi- 
losophy and  logic;  and  such  was  his  diligence,  and  such 
his  love  of  these  studies,  that  within  a  few  years  he  was  not 
only  enabled  to  deliver  an  admirable  course  of  lectures  on 
moral  philosophy  and  logic,  but  also  to  prepare  for  the 
press  those  works  on  which  his  fame  rests ;  all  of  which, 
there  is  some  reason  to  think,  were  written,  or  nearly 
written,  before  he  gave  the  world  the  result  of  his  philoso- 
phical studies  in  the  celebrated  "  Essay  on  Truth."  It 
may  be  added,  likewise,  that  the  rank  he  had  now  attained 
in  the  university, entitled  htm  to  associate  more  upon  .a 
level  with  Reid  and  with  Campbell,  with  Gerard  ar>d  with 
Gregory,  men  whose  opinions  were  in  many  points  conge- 
nial, and  who  have  all  been  hailed,  by  the  sister  country, 
among  the  revivers  of  Scotch  literature.  With  these  gentle- 
men and  a  few  others,  he  formed  a  society  or  club  for  the 
discussion  of  literary  and  philosophical  subjects.  A  part 
of  their  entertainment  was  the  reading  a  short  essay,  com* 
posed  by  each  member  in  his  turn.  It  is  supposed  that 
the  works  of  Reid,.  Campbell,  Beattie,  Gregory,  and  Ge- 
rard, or  at  least  the  outlines  of  them,  were  first  discussed  in 
this  society,  either  in  the  form  of  essay,  or  of  a  question  for 
familiar  conversation.    '  " 

In  1765,  Mr.  Beattie  published  "  The  Judgment  of  Pa- 
ris," a  poem,  in  4to.  Its  design  was  to  prove  that  virtue, 
alone  is  capable  of  affording  a  gratification  adequate  to 
our  whole  nature,  the  pursuits  of  ambition  or  sensuality 
promising  only  partial  happiness,  as  being  adapted  not;  tot 
our  whole  constitution,  but  only  to.  a  pan  of  it.     So  simple 


£5* 


fe  £  A  T  f  1  E. 


a  position  seems  to  require  the  graces  of  poetry  td  set  it  off. 
The  reception  of  this  poem,  however,  was  unfavourable, 
and  although  he  added  it  to  a  new  edition  of  his  poems,  in 
1766,  yet  it  was  never  again  reprinted,  arid  even  his  bio- 
grapher has  declined  reviving  its  memory  by  an  extract.  To 
this  edition  of  1766  he  added  a  poem  "  On  the  talk  of 
erecting  a  Monument  to  Churchill  in  Westminister-ball," 
which,  sir  William  Forbes  says,  was  first  published  sepa- 
rately, and  without  a  name.  That  it  was  printed  separately 
we  are  informed  on  undoubted  authority,  but  we  question 
if  it  was  ever  published  for  sale  unless  in  the  above-men- 
tioned edition  of  his  poems.  The  asperity  with  which 
these  lines  are  marked  induced  his  biographer,  contrary 
to  his  first  intention,  to  omit  them,  but  they  are  added 
to  his  other  poems,  in  the  late  edition  of  "  English 
Poets  *." 

Although  Mr.  Beattie  had  now  acquired  a  station  in  which 
his  talents  were  displayed  with  great  advantage,  and  com- 
manded a  very  high  degree  of  respect,  the  publication  of 
the  "  Essay  on  Truth**  was  the  great  era  of  his  life ;  for 
this  work  carried  bis  fame  far  beyond  all  local  bounds  and 
local  partialities.  It  Is  not,  however,  necessary  to  enter 
minutely  into  the  history  of  a  work  so  well  known.  Its 
professed  intention  was  to  trace  the  several  kinds  of  evi- 
dence and  reasoning  up  to  their  first  principles,  with  a  view 
to  ascertain  the  Standard  of  Truth,  and  explain  its  Immu- 
tability. He  endeavours  to  show  that  his  sentiments,  how- 
ever inconsistent  with  the  genius  of  scepticism,  and  with 
the  practice  and  -principles  of  sceptical  writers,  were  yet 
perfectly  consistent  with  the  genius  of  true  philosophy,  and 
with  the  practice  and  principles  of  those  whom  all  acknow- 
ledge to  have  been  the  most  successful  in  the  investigation 
of  truth ;  and  he  concludes  with  some  inferences  or  rules, 
by  which  the  most  important  fallacies  of  the  sceptical  phi- 
losophy may  be  detected  by  every  person  of  common  sense, 
even  though  he  should  not  possess  acuteness  of  metaphysl- 


*  "  In  the  autumn  of  the  year  1765, 
Mr.  Gray  came  to  Scotland  on  a  visit 
to  the  late  Earl  of  Strathmore.  Dr. 
Beattie,  who  was  an  enthusiastic  ad- 
mirer of  Gray,  as  soon  as  he  heard 
of  his  arrivaj,  addressed  to  him  a  let- 
ter, which  procured  him  an  invitation 
to  Glamtnis  castle,  and  this  led  to  a 
friendship  and  correspondence  between 
these  two  eminent  fctoets  and  amiable 


men,  which  continued,  without  inter* 
ruption,  till  the  death  of  Mr.  Gray."  - 
*—Sir  William  Forbes,  vol.  I.  p.  70.  In 
the  same  year  he  became  acquainted 
with  his  biographer,  who  has,  by  the 
life  of  Beattie,  raised  a  monument  to 
the  excellence  of  his  own  character, 
scarcely  inferior  to  that  he  intended 
for  his  friend. 


fi  t  A  T  T  1  £.  255 

«*1  knowledge  sufficient  to  qualify  him  for  a  logical  confu- 
tation of  them. 

When  this  work  was  completed,  so  many  difficulties  oc- 
curred in  procuring  it  to  be  published,  that  his  friends,  sir 
William  Forbes  and  Mr.  Arbuthnot,  were  obliged  to  become 
the  purchasers,  unknown  to  him,  at  a  price  with  which  they 
thought  he  would  be  satisfied.  Sir  William  accordingly 
wrote  to  him  that  the  manuscript  was  sold  for  fifty  guineas, 
as  the  price  of  the  first  edition.  This  edition  was  pub- 
lished in  an  octavo  volume  in  1770,  and  bought  up  with 
such  avidity  that  a  second  was  called  for,  and  published  in 
the  following  year.  The  interval  was  short,  but  as  the  work 
bad  excited  the  public  attention  in  an  extraordinary  de- 
gree, the  result  of  public  opinion  had  reached  the  author's 
ear,  and  to  this  second  edition  he  added  a  postscript,  in 
vindication  of  a  certain  degree  of  warmth  of  which  he  had 
been  accused. 

The  "  Essay  on  Truth,"  whatever  objections  were  made 
to  it,  and  it  met  with  very  few  public  opponents  *,  had  a 
more  extensive  circulation  than  probably  any  work  of  the 
kind  ever  published.  This  may  be  partly  attributed  to  the 
charms  of  that  popular  style  in  which  the  author  conveyed 
bis  sentiments  on  subjects  which  his  adversaries  had  art- 
fully disguised  in  a  metaphysical  jargon,  the  meaning  of 
which  they  could  vary  at  pleasure;  but  the  eagerness  with 
which  it  was  bought  up  and  read,  arose  chiefly  from  the 
just  praise  bestowed  upon  it  by  the  most  distinguished 
friends  of  religion  and  learning  in  Great  Britain.  With 
many  .of  these  of  high  rank  both  in  church  and  state,  the 
author  had  the  pleasing  satisfaction  of  dating  his  acquaint- 
ance from  the  publication  of  this  work.  There  appeared, 
indeed,  in  the  public  in  general,  an  honourable  wish  to 
grace  the  triumph  of  sound  reasoning  over  pernicious  so- 
phistry. Hence  in  less  than  four  years  five  large  editions 
of  the  Essay  were  sold  f,  and  it  was  translated  into  several 
foreign  languages,  and  attracted  the  notice  of  many  emi- 

*  The  principal  publication  was  Dr.  hut  the  flippant  and  sarcastic  style  he 

Priestley's  "  Examination  of  Dr.  Reid  assumed  on  this  occasion  was  diaap- 

on  the  Human* Mind;   Dr.  Beattiebn  proved  even  by  his  own  friends.    - 
the  Nature  and  Immutability  of  Truth  ; 

and  Dr.  Oswald's  Appeal  to  Common  f  The  first  appeared  in  May  1770; 

Sense,"  Oct  1775.     Dr.  Priestley  pre-  the  second,  April  1771 ;    the  third  in 

fers  {he  system  of  Dr.  Hartley,  which  1779;  the  fourth,  Jan.  1773;  aud  the 

.  fee  was  then  endeavouring  to  rnlroduce,  fifth,  Feb.  1774, 


256  BEATTI  E, 

nent  persons  in  France,  Germany,  Holland,  Italy,  *nd  other 
parts  of  the  continent. 

Among  other  marks  of  respect,  the  university  of  Oxford 
conferred  the  degree  of  LL.  D.  on  the  author  *,  and  on  his 
second  arrival  in  London  he  was  most  graciously  received 
by  his  Majesty,  who  not  only  bestowed  a  pension  pn  hint* 
but  admitted  him  to  the  honour  of  a  private  conference* 
Many  years  after,  when  Dr.  Beattie  went  tp  pay  his  respects 
to  his  Majesty,  be  was  still  received  with  every  mark  of 
royal  condescension  and  kindness. 

It  was  in  July  1771  that  Dr.  Beattie  first  visited  London* 
and  commenced  a  personal  acquaintance  with  men  of  the 
first  eminence,  with  lord  Mansfield  and  lord  Lyttelton* 
Drs.  Hurd,  Porteus,  Johnson,  Mr.  Burke,  and,  indeed,  the 
whole  of  the  literary  society  whose  conversations  have  been 
so  pleasantly  detailed  by  Mr.  Boswell ;  and  returned  to 
Scotland  with  a  mind  elevated  and  cheered* by  the  praise, 
the  kindness,  and  the  patronage,  of  the  goo<£  and  great* 
It  was,  however,  on  his  second  visit  to  London,  in  1773, 
that  he  received  his  degree  from  Oxford,  and  those  honours 
from  his  majesty,  which  we  anticipated  as  a  direct,  though 
not  an  immediate  consequence  of  the  services  he  rendered 
to  bis  country  by  the  publication  of  the  "  Essay  on  Truth." 
His  conversation  with  his  majesty  is  detailed  at  some  length 
by  himself,  in  a  diary  published  by  sir  William  Forbes. 

Soon  after  this  visit  to  London  he  was  solicited  by  a  very 
flattering  proposal  sent  through  the  hands  of  Dr.  Porteus, 
late  bishop  of  London,  to  enter  into  the  church  of  Eng- 
land. A  similar  offer  had  been  made  sometime  before  by 
the  archbishop  of  York,  but  declined.  It  was  now  renewed 
with  more  importunity,  and  produced  from  himjbe  impor- 
tant reasons  which  obliged  him  still  to  decline  :an  offer 
which  he  could  not  but  consider  as  "  great  and  generous.9* 
By  these. reasons,  communicated  ip  a  letter  to  Dr.  Porteus, 
we  find  that  he  was  apprehensive  of  the  injury  that  might 
be  done  to  the  cause  he  had  espoused,  if  his  enemies  should 
have  any  ground  for  asserting  that  he  had  written  his  Essay 
on  Truth,  with  a  view  to  promotion  :  and  he  was  likewise 
of  opinion,  that  it  might  have  the  appearance  of  levity  and 

4 

*  He  bad  received  this  honour  some  -  sciences,  and  of  the  literary  and  philo- 

time  before  from  King's  college,  Aber*-.  sopbieal  society  of  Manchester,  and 

deen.    He  was  afterwards  chosen  mem-  was  a  fellow  of  the  royal  society  of 

her  of  the  Zealand  society  of  arts  aw},  fidjiibyrfh. 


B  E  A  T  T  I  ET.  257 

insincerity,  and  even  of  want  of  principle,  were  he  to  quir, 
without  any  other  apparent  motive  than  that  of  bettering 
his  circumstances,  the  church  of  which  he  had  hitherto 
been  a  member.  Other  reasons  he  assigned,  on  this  occa- 
sion, of  some,  but  Kiss  weight,  all  which  prevailed  on  his 
friends  to  withdraw  any  farther  solicitation,  while  they  bo* 
noored  the  motives  by  which  he  was  influenced.  In  the 
same  year  he  refused  the  offer  of  a  professor's- chair  in  the 
university  of  Edinburgh,  considering  his  present  situation 
as  best  adapted  to  his  habits  and  to  his  usefulness,  and  ap- 
prehending that  the  formation  of  a  new  society  of  friends 
might  not  be  so  easy  or  agreeable  in  a  place  where  the 
enemies  of  his  principles  were  numerous*  To  some  of  his 
friends,  however,  these  reasons  did  not  appear  very  con- 
vincing. 

Although  Mr.  Beattie  had  apparently  withdrawn  his 
claims  as  a  poet,  by  cancelling  as  many  copies  of  his  ju- 
venile attempts  as  he  could  procure,  he  was  not  so  in  con- 
scious of  his  admirable  talents,  as  to  relinquish  what  was  an 
early  and  favourite  pursuit,  and  in  which  he  had  probably 
passed  some  of  his  most  delightful  hours.  A  few  months 
after  the  appearance  of  the  "  Essay  on  Truth,"  he  pub- 
lished the  "  First  Book  of  the  Minstrel,'1  in  4to,  but  with- 
out his  name.  By  this  omission,  the  poem  was  examined 
with  all  that  rigour  of  criticism  which  may  be  expected  in 
the  case  of  a  work,  for  which  the  author's  name  can  neither 
afford  protection  or  apology.  He  was  accordingly  praised 
for  having  adopted  the  measure  of  Spenser,  because  he 
had  the  happy  enthusiasm  of  that  writer  to  support  and 
render  it  agreeable ;  but  objections  were  made  to  the  limi- 
tation of  bis  plan  to  the  profession  of  the  Minstrel,  when  so 
much  superior  interest  might  be  excited  by  carrying  him 
on  through  the  practice  of  it.  These  objections  appear 
to  have  coincided  with  the  author's  re-consideration  ;  and 
he  not  only  adopted  various  alterations  recommended  by 
rhis  friends,  particularly  Mr.  Gray,  but  introduced  others, 
which  made  the  subsequent  editions  of  this  poem  far  more 
perfect  than  the  first. 

The  Minstrel,  however,  in  its  first  form,  contained  so 
many  passages  of  genuine  poetry,  the  poetry  of  nature  and 
of  feeling,  and  was  so  eagerly  applauded  by  those  whose 
right  of  opinion  was  incoptestable^  that  it  soon  ran  through- 
four  editions;  and  in  1774,  the  author  produced  the 
"  Second  Book ;"  and  as  its  success  was  not  inferior  to  that 

Vot.  IV.  & 


258  B.EATTI-E. 

of  the  first,  it  was  the  general  wish  that  the  author  would 
fulfil  his  promise  by  .completing  the  interesting  subject ; 
but  the  increasing  business  of  education,  the  cares  of  a 
family,  and  the  state  of  his  health,  originally  delicate,  and 
never  robust,  deprived  him  of  the  time  and  thought  which 
be  considered  as  requisite.  In  1777,  however,  he  was  in- 
duced to  publish  the  two  parts  of  the  Minstrel  together, 
and  to  add  a  few  of  his  juvenile  poems. 

During  the  preceding  year,  1776,  he  prepared  for  the 
press  a  new  edition  of  the  "  Essay  on  Truth,"  in  a  more 
splendid  form  than  it  had  hitherto  appeared  in,  and  attended 
by  a  very  liberal  subscription,  and  with  other  circumstances 
of  public  esteem  which  were  very  flattering.  The  list  of 
subscribers  amounted  to  four  hundred  and  seventy-six 
names  of  men  and  women  of  the  first  rank  in  life,  and  of 
all  the  distinguished  literary  characters  of  the  time.  The 
copies  subscribed  for  amounted  to  seven  hundred  and 
thirty-two,  so  that  no  inconsiderable  sum  must  have  ac-» 
crued  in  this  delicate  manner  to  the  author.  Dr.  Beattie 
was  by  no  means  rich ;  his  pension  was  only  two  hundred 
pounds,  and  the  annual  amount  of  his  professorship  never 
reached  that  sum. 

The  Essays  added  to  this  volume,  and  which  he  after- 
wards printed  separately  in  8vo,  were  "  On  Poetry  and 
Music  ;"  on  "  Laughter  and  ludicrous  Cpmposition  ;  and 
"  on  the  utility  of  Classical  Learning."  They  were  written 
many  years  before  publication,  and  besides  being  read  in 
the  private  literary  society  already  mentioned,  had  been 
submitted  to  the  judgment  of  his  learned  friends  in  Eng- 
land, who  recommended  them  to  the  press. 

For  the  frequent  introduction  of  practical  and  serious 
observations,  he  offers  a  satisfactory  reason  in  the  preface 
to  "  Dissertations  Moral  and  Critical,  on  Memory  and  Ima- 
gination; on  Dreaming;  the  Theory  of  Language;  on  Fable 
and  Romance ;  on  the  Attachments  of  Kindred  ;  and  Illus- 
trations on  Sublimity,"  1783,  4to.  These,  he  informs  us^ 
were  at  first  composed  in  a  different  form,  being  part  of  a 
course  of  prelections  read  to  those  young  gentlemeu  whom 
it  was  his  business  to  initiate  in  the  elements  of  moral 
science  ;  and  he  disclaims  any  nice  metaphysical  theories, 
or  other  matters  of  doubtful  disputation,  as  not  suiting  his 
ideas  of  moral  teaching.  Nor  was  this  the  disgust  of  a 
metaphysician  "  retired  from  business."  He  had  ever 
been  of  the  same  opinion.    Dr.  Beattie' s  aim  was,  indeed, 


B  E  A  T  T  I  E.  2S9 

in  all  his  lectures,  "  to  inure  young  minds  to  habits  of  at- 
tentive observation ;  to  guard  them  against  the  influence 
of  bad  principles  ;  and  to  set  before  them  such  views  of  na- 
ture, and  such  plain  and  practical  truths,  as  may  at  once 
improve,  the  heart  and  the  understanding,  and  amuse 
and  elevate  the  fancy*," 

Of  these  Essays,  the  preference  has  been  generally 
given  to  those  on  "  Memory  and  Imagination,"  and  oa 
"  Fable  and  Romance,"  and  to  "  The  Theory  of  Lan- 
guage," and  in  re-publishing  the  latter  separately  for  the 
use  of  seminaries  of  education,  he  complied  with  the  wish 
of  many  readers  and  critics. 

During  a  visit  to  the  metropolis  in  1784,  Dr.  Beattie 
submitted  to  the  late  bishop  of  London,  with  whose  friend- 
ship he  had  long  been  honoured,  a  part  of  a  work  which 
at  that  excellent  prelate's  desire  he  published  in  1786,  en- 
titled "  Evidences  of  the  Christian  Religion  briefly  and 
plainly  stated,"  2  vols.  12mo.  This  likewise  formed  part 
of  his  concluding  lectures  to  his  class,  and  he  generally 
dictated  an  abstract  of  it  to  them  in  the  course  of  the  ses- 
sion. From  a  work  of  this  kind,  and  on  a  subject  which 
had  employed  the  pens  of  the  greatest  and  best  English 
writers,  much  novelty  was  not  to  be  expected,  nor  in  its 
original  form  was  any  novelty  intended.  It  must  be  al- 
lowed, however,  that  he  has  placed  many  of  the  arguments 
for  the  evidences  of  Christianity  in  a  very  striking  and  per- 
spasive  light,  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  suppose  that  if  he 
could  have  devoted  more  time  and  study  to  a  complete  re- 
view and  arrangement  of  what  had?  or  might  be  advanced 
on  these  evidences,  be  would  have  produced  a  work  worthy 
of  his  genius,  and  worthy  of  the  grandeur  and  importance 
of  the  subject. 

In  the  preface  to  Dr.  Beattie' s  tl  Dissertations,"  he  inti- 
mated a  design  of  publishing  the  whole  of  his  lectures  oa 
Moral  Science,  but  from  this  he  was  diverted  by  the  cd- 
tgent  reasons  there  assigned.    He  was  encouraged,  however, 

*  Cowper's  praise  of  this  volume,  is  his  ease  too,  that  his  own  character 

too  valuable  to  be  emitted  : — "  Beat-  appears  in  every  page,  and,  which  h 

tie,  the  most  agreeable  and  amiable  very  rare,  we  aee  not  only  the  writer, 

writer  i  ever  met  with ;  the  only  au-  but  the  man ;  and  the  man  so  gentle, 

thor  I  have  seen  whose  critical  and  so  well  tempered,  so  happy  in  his  re- 

phiiosophical  researches  are  diversified  ligion,  and  so  humane  in  his  philoso- 

and  embellished  by  a  poetical  imagi-  phy,  that  it  is  necessary  to  love  htm  if 

nation,    that   makes  even   the  driest  one  has  any  sense  of  what  is  lovely." 

subject,  and  the  leanest,  a  feast  for  an  Hay  ley's    Life  of  Cowper,   vol*  III. 

epicure  in  books.    He  it  80  much  at  p.  247. 

3   2 


260  B  E  A  T  T  I  E. 

to  present  to  the  public,  in  a  correct  and  somewhat  en- 
larged form,  the  abstract  which  he  used  to  dictate  to  bis 
scholars.  Accordingly,  in  1790,  he  published  "Element* 
of  Moral  Science,"  vol.  I.  8vo,  including  psychology,  or 
perceptive  faculties  and  active  powers ;  and  natural  theo- 
logy; with  two  appendices  on  the  Incorporeal  Nature  and 
on  the  Immortality  of  the  Soul.  The  second  volume  was 
published  in  1793;  containing  ethics,  economics,  politics, 
and  logic.  All  these  subjects  are  necessarily  treated  in  a 
summary  manner;  but  it  will  be  found  sufficiently  compre- 
hensive, not  only  for  a  text- book,  or  book  of  elements, 
which  was  the  professed  intention  of  the  author,  but  also 
as  an  excellent  aid  to  the  general  reader  who  may  not  have 
fen  opportunity  of  attending  regular  lectures,  and  yet  wishes 
to  reap  some  of  the  advantages  of  regular  education. 

In  vol;  II.  there  occurs  a  dissertation  against  the  Slave 
Trade,  which  the  author  informs  us  he  wrote  in  1778  with 
a  view  to  a  separate  publication.  He  exposed  the  weak 
defences  set  up  for  that  abominable  traffic  with  wonderful 
acuteness,  and  thus  had  the  honour  to  contribute  to  that 
mass  of  conviction  which  at  length  became  irresistible,  and 
delivered  the  nation  from  her  greatest  reproach. 

To  the  second  volume  of  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal 
Society  of  Edinburgh,  published  in  1790*,  he  contributed 
"  Remarks  on  some  passages  of  the  sixth  book  of  the 
j&neid."  This  was,  in  fact,  a  dissertation'  on  the  mytho- 
logy of  the  Romans,  as  poetically  described  by  Virgil,  in 
the  episode  of  the  descent  of  Apneas  into  hell ;  and  the 
author's  object  was  to  vindicate  his  favourite  poet  from  the 
charges  of  impiety,  &c,  brought  against  him  by  Warbur- 
ton  and  others.  In  the  same  year  he  is  said  to  have  super- 
intended an  edition  of  "  Addison's  periodical  Papers," 
published  at  Edinburgh  in  4  vols.  8vo.  To  this,  however, 
be  contributed  only  a  few  notes  to  Tickell's  Life  of  Ad- 
dison, and  to  Dr.  Johnson's  remarks.  It  were  to  be  wished 
he  had  done  more.  Addison  never  had  a  warmer  admirer, 
nor  a  more  successful  imitator. 

t  In  1794  appeared  the  last  work  our  author  composed, 
and  its  history  requires  some  notice  of  his  family.  In  1767 
he  maifcied  Miss  Mary  Dun,  daughter  of  Dr.  James  Dun, 

*  About  1773  he  printed  a  letter  tained  a  few  specimens  of  translation* 

to  Dr.  Blair  "  On  the  improvement  of  of  the  Psalms,     He  printed  also  some 

Psalmody   in    Scotland*"      This    was  year?  after  a  list  of  Scotticism*,  for  the, 

0iiljr  priratelf  circulated.      It   con-  use  of  his  students* 


BE  ATTIL  261 

rector  or  bead  master  of  the  grammar-school  of\Aberdeen, 
a  man  of  great  personal  worth,  and  an  excellent  classical 
scholar. 

With  this  lady  Dr.  Beattie  enjoyed  for  many  years  as 
much  felicity  as  the  married  state  can  add  ;  and  when  she 
visited  London  with  him,  she  shared  amply  in  the  respect 
paid  to  him,  and  in  the  esteem  of  his  illustrious  friends. 
By  her  he  had  two  sons,  James  Hay,  so  named  from  the 
earl  of  Errol,  one  of  his  old  and  steady  friends ;  and  Mon- 
tagu, from  the  celebrated  Mrs.  Montagu,  in  whose  house 
Dr.  Beattie  frequently  resided  when  in  London.  While 
these  children  were  very  young,  Mrs.  Beattie  was  seized 
with  an  indisposition,  which,  in  spite  of  all  care  and  skill, 
terminated  in  the  painful  necessity  of  separation  from  her 
husband  *.  The  care  of  the  children  now  entirely  devolved 

!  on  the  father,  whose  sensibility  received  such  a  shock  from 

the  melancholy  circumstance  alluded  to,  as  could  only  be 
aggravated  by  an  apprehension  that  the  consequences  of 
Mrs.  Beattie' s  disorder  might  not  be  confined  to  herself* 
This  alarm,  which  often  preyed  on  his  spirits,  proved 
happily  without  foundation.     His  children  grew  up  with- 

I  out  the  smallest  appearance  of  thp  hereditary  evil ;  but 

when  they  had  just  begun  to  repay  his  care  by  a  display 
of  early  genius,  sweetness  of  temper,  and  filial  affection, 
he  was  compelled  to  resign  them  both  to  an  untimely  grave,. 
His  eldest  son  died  November  19,  1790,  in  bis  twenty, 
second  year ;  and  his  youngest  on  March  14,  1796,  in  his 
eighteenth  year. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  James  Hay,  his  father  drew  up 
an  account  of  his  "  Life  and « Character;  to  which  were 
added,  "  Essays  and  Fragments,"  written  by  this  extraor- 
dinary youth.  Of  this  volume  a  few  copies  only  were 
printed,  and  were  given  as  "  presents  to  those  friends  with 
whom  the  author  was  particularly  acquainted  or  connected.79 
Dr.  Beattie  was  afterwards  induced  to  permit  the  Life  and 
some  of  the  Essays  and  Fragments  to  be  printed  for  publi- 

i  qation.     The  life  is  perhaps  one  of  the  most  interesting 

and  affecting  narratives  in  our  language. 

After  the  loss  of  this  amiable  youth,  who,  in  1737,  had 

<       •• 

*  Sir  Wm.  Forbes  intimites  that  her  marriage,  it  skewed  itself  in  caprices 

symptoms  of  insanity  were  of  an  ear-  that  embittered  every  hour  of  hfs  life, 

i               Iter  date.     "  Although  it  did  not,  for  a  till,  at  last,  it  unquestionably  eaniri- 

considerable  time,  break  out  into  open  buled  to  bring  him  to  his  grare," 
iasauity,  yej  in  a  few  years  after  tneir 


$62  BEATTIE. 

been  appointed  successor  to  his  father,  and  had  occa- 
sionally lectured  in  the  professors  chair,  Dr.  Beattie  re- 
sumed that  employment  himself,  and  continued  it,  although 
with  intervals  of  sickness  and  depression,  until  the  unex- 
pected death  of  his  second  and  last  child ,  in  1796.  Hi* 
hopes  of  a  successor,  of  his  name  and  family,  had  pro* 
bably  been  revived  in  this  youth,  who  exhibited  many 
proofs  of  early  genius,  and  for  some  time  before  his  death 
bad  prosecuted  his  studies  with  great  assiduity.  But  here 
too  he  was  compelled  again  to  subscribe  to  the  uncertainty 
of  all  human  prospects.  From  this  period  he  began  to 
withdraw  from  society,  and  brooded  over  the  sorrows  of 
his  family,  until  they  overpowered  his  feelings,  and  ab- 
stracted him  from  all  the  comforts  of  friendship  and  all 
power  of  consolation.  Of  the  state  of  his  -mind,  sit  Wil- 
liam Forbes  has  given  an  instance  so  extremely  affecting, 
that  no  apology  can  be  necessary  'for  introducing  it  here. 

i€  The  death  of  hi$  only  surviving, child  completely  un- 
hinged the  mind  of  Dr.  Beattie,  the  first  symptom  of  which, 
ere  many  days  had  elapsed,  was  a  temporary  but  almost 
total  loss  of  memory  respecting  his  son.  .  Many  times  he 
could  not  recollect  what  had  become  of  him  ;  and  after 
searching  in  every  room  of  the  house,  he  would  say  to  his 
niece,  Mrs.  Glennie,  '  You  may  think  it  strange,  but  I 
must  ask  you  if  I  have  a  son,  and  where  he  is  ?'  She  then 
felt  herself  under  the  painful  necessity  of  bringing  to  his 
recollection  his  son  Montagu's  sufferings,  which  always 
restored  him  to  reason.  And  he  would  often,  with  many 
tears,  express  his  thankfulness  that  he  had  no  child,  say- 
ing, '  How  could  I  have  o#rne  to  see  their  elegant  minds 
mangled  with  madness !'  When  be  looked  for  the  last  time 
on  the  dead  body  of  his  son,  he  said,  '  I  have  now  done 
with  the  world :'  and  he  ever  after  seemed  to  act  as  if  he 
thought  so." 

The  last  three  years  of  his  life  were  passed  in  hopeless 
solitude,  and  he  even  dropt  his  correspondence  with  many 
of  those  remote  friends  with  whom  he  had  long  enjoyed  the 
soothing  interchange  of  elegant  sentiment  and  friendly  at- 
tachment. His  health,  in  this  voluntary  confinement,  gra- 
dually decayed,  and  extreme  and  premature  debility,  oc- 
casioned by  two  paralytic  strokes^  terminated  his  life,  on 
the  18th  of  August,  1803.,  His  reputation  was  so  well 
founded  and  so  extensive,  that  he  was  universally  lamented 
as  a  loss  to  the  republic  of  letters,  &nd  particularly  to  the 


B  E  A  T  T  I  E.  aey 

university  to  which  he  had  been  so  long  3,  public  benefactor 
and  an  honour. 

Of  his  general  character  a  fair  estimate  may  be  formed 
from  his  works,  and  it  is  no  small  praise  that  his  life  and 
writings  were  in  strict  conformity.  No  jnan.ever  felt  more 
strong  impressions  of  the  value  of  the  virtues  he  recom- 
mended than  Dr.  Beattie.  Although  he  disdained  the 
affectation  of  feeling,  and  the  ostentation  of  extraordinary 
purity,  he  yet  more  abhorred  the  character  of  those  writers 
whose  professions  and  practice  are  at  variance.  His  zeal 
for  religious  and  moral  truth,  however  censured* by  those 
to  whom  religion  and  truth  are  adverse,  originated  in  a 
mind. fully  convinced  of  the  importance  of  what  he  pre-, 
scribed  to  others,  and  anxious  to  display,  where  such. a 
display  was  neither  obtrusive  nor  boastful,  that  his  convic- 
tion was  sincere,  and  his  practice  resolute.  * 

BEATUS.     SeeRHENANUS. 

1 

BEAU  (Charles  Le),  first  professor  of.  rhetoric  in  the 
college  of  the  Grassins,  and  afterwards  professor  in  the 
college-royal,  secretary  to  the  duke  of  Orleans,  perpetual 
secretary  and  pensionary  of  the  academy  of  inscriptions,- 
was  born  at  Paris,  Oct.  19,  1701  (Saxius,  .says  17Q9),  and: 
died* in  that  city,  March  13,  1778.  He  was  married,  and 
left  only  one  daughter.  This  honest  and  laborious  acade- 
mician, the  rival  of  Rollin  in  the  art  of  teaching,  idolized 
by  bis  scholars,  as  that  famous  professor  was,  had  perhaps 
a  more  extensive  fund  of  learning,  and  particularly  in 
Greek  and  Latin  literature.  His  history  of  the  Lower  Em- 
pire, in  22  vols.  12mo,  1757,  forming  a  continuation  of 
Crevier's  History  of  the  Emjjerors,  is  the  more  esteemed, 
as  in  the  composition  of  it  he  had  many  difficulties  to.  over- 
come, in  reconciling  contradictory  writers,  filling'  up 
chasms,  and  forming  a  regular  body  out  of  a  heap  of. 
mishapen  ruins.  It  is  strongly  characterized  by  a  judicious, 
series  of  criticism,  couched  in  a  polished  and  elegant  style.' 
The  logician  sometimes  appears  too  conspicuously;  but 
in  general  it  is  read  with  pleasure  and  profit.  The  first, 
volume  of  au  English  translation  of  this  work  was  published 

1  Life  prefixed  to  his  poems,  in  the  late  edition  of  the  "  English  Poets."  The' 
Aore  copious  and  minute  life  of  Dr.  Beattie  lately  published  by  sir  William 
Forbes  exhibits  him  in  the  character  of  an  epistolary  writer.  His  letters  em- 
brace a  ve$y  large  portion  of  the  literary  history  of  his  time,  but  it  may  be 
doubted  whether  they  have  always  the  ease  and  vivacity  which  are  expected  in 
this  species  of  composition.  They  are  valuable,  however,  as  exhibiting  many 
lesser  traits  of  his  character,  and  as  disclosing  its  lesser  infirmities. 


*64  BEAU. 

iii  1770,  but,  we  believe,  not  continued.  The  memoirs 
of  the  academy  of  belles  lettres  are  enriched  with  several 
learned  dissertations  by  the  same  author,  particularly  on 
medals,  on  the  Roman  legion,  on  the  Roman  art  of  war, 
and  thirty-four  biographical  eloges,  distinguished  for  truth 
and  impartiality.  The  religious  sentiments,  the  sound 
principles,  the  sweetness  of  manners,  and  the  inviolable 
integrity  of  M.  le  Beau,  which  inspired  his  friends  and  dis- 
ciples with  so  much  attachment  to  him  when  alive,  occa- 
sioned them. to  feel  a  loug  and  lasting  regret  at  his  depar- 
ture. Several  little  anecdotes  might  here  be  related  that 
do  honour  to  his  heart.  A  place  in  the  academy  of  belles 
lettres  bad  been  designed  for  him.  Bougainville,  the 
*  translator  of  the  Anti-Lucretius,  who  applied  for  it,  with 
fewer  pretensions,  and  a  less  consummate  knowledge, 
dreaded  such  a  formidable  competitor  as  M.  le  Beau,  to 
whom,  however,  from  his  known  character,  he  was  not 
deterred  from  making  his  wishes  known*  The  professor 
felt  for  his  embarrassment,  and  hastened  to  the  friends  who 
had  promised  him  their  votes,  .desiring  they  might  be 
transferred  to  the  young  student,  "it  is  one  of  the 
smallest  sacrifices,"  said  he,  "  I  should  be  ready  to  make 
in  order  to  oblige  a. man  of  merit.'*  M.  le  Beau  was  re- 
ceived at  the  election  following ;  and  JVL  Capperonier, 
surprised  at  bis  extensive  erudition,  and  affected  hy  his 
generosity,  exclaimed,  "  He  is  our  master  in  all  things  !'* 
On  another  occasion,  when  highly  praised  for  his  acquisi-c 
tions,  he  said,  "  I  know  enough  to  be  ashamed  that  I  ^now 
no  more.19  Thierrat  published  Le  Beau's  Latin  works, 
Paris,  17S2,  2  vols.  8vp,  consisting  of  orations,  poetry,  and 
fables  ^  the  last  inferior  to  his  other  productions.1 

BEAU  (John  Lewis  le),  younger  brother  to  the  above, 
professor  of  rhetoric  in  the  college  qf  the  Grassins,  and 
member  qf  the  academy  of  inscriptions,  was  bom  at  Paris, 
March*,  1721,  and  died  March  12,  1766.  He  filled 
with  distinguished  merit  the  functions  of  academician  and 
professor.  He  is  author  of  a  discourse  in  which,  after,  hav- 
ihg  shewn  the  pernicious  effects  of  poverty  to  .men  of  let- 
ters, pnd  what  dangers  they  have  to  dread  from  riches,  he 
concludes,  that  the  state  of  a  happy  mediocrity  is  the  fittest 
for  them.  He  published  an  edition  of  "  Homer,"  Greek 
and  Latin,  2  vols.  1746;  and  the  "  Orations  of  Cicero/9 

}  pict.  Hist. — Saxii  OwiDasticoB. 


BEAU,  £6* 

in  3  Vols.  1750.'  To  both  he  has  subjoined  copious  anno- 
tations, and  wrote  several  papers  in  the  Memoirs  of  the 
academy. x 

•  BEAU  (John  Baptiste  le),  a  learned  French  Jesuit, 
and  classical  antiquary,  was  born  in  1602,  in  the  comtat 
Yenaissin,  and  entered  among  the  Jesuits  in  1619,  He 
taught  rhetoric  for  seven  year*  at  Toulouse,  and  was  after- 
wards rector  of  the  college  of  lihodez.  He  died  in  the 
college  of  Montpellier,  July  26,  1610.  His  works,  which 
discover  much  valuable  literary  research,  are,  1.  "  Dia- 
tribe duae,  prima  de  partibus  templi  Auguralis ;  altera,  de 
ftiense  et  die  victorias  Pharsalicre,"  Toulouse,  1637,  8vot 
and  inserted  in  Gravius's  Roman  antiquities,  voLV.  and 
vol.  VJIL  2.  "  Diatriba  de  Pharsalici  conflictus  meuse  et 
die,  cum  accessionibus  et  prefatione  Heurici  Leouardi 
Schurzfieischii,"  Wirtemberg,  1705,  8vo.  3.  "  Brevi- 
culum  expeditionis  Hispaniensis  Ludovici  XJIL"  Toulouse, 
16*2,  4to.  4.  '.'  Otia  regia  Ludovici  XIV.  regis  Chris- 
lianissitni,  sive  Polyaenus  GuJlicus  de  veterum  et  recerituitn 
Gal  brum  stratagemattbus,"  Clermont,  1658,  8vo,  I'Yanc- 
fort,  1661,  8vo.  5.  "  ik  Vie  de  M.  Francis  P'Estaing, 
'  eveque  de  lihodez,"  Clermont,  1655,  4tof  and  an  abridg- 
ment of  the  same  in  Latin,  1 2 mo.  6.  "  Historia  de  vita 
Bartholomaei  de*  Marty  rib  us,"  Paris,  4to.  7.  f<  Speculum 
veri  antistitis  in  vita  Alpbonsi  Torribii  arefciepiscopi  Li- 
mensis  in  Peru  via,"  Pans,  4to.* 

BEAUCAIRE  DE  PEGU1LON  (Francis),  in  Latin 
Belgarius  Pkguilio,  bishop  of  ftletz,  a  man  of  some  note 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  was  born  April  15,  1514,  of  one 
of  the  most  ancient  families  of  the  Bourbon nois.  The  pro- 
gress he  made  in  polite  literature  induced  Claude  de  Lor- 
raine, the  first  duke  of  Guise,  to  choose  him  to  be  pre- 
ceptor to  cardinal  de  Lorraine,  his  second  son,  an  appoint- 
ment which  very  naturally,  we  will  not  say  very  justly,  at- 
tached him  to  the  family  of  Guise,  and  made  him  too  par- 
tial in  his  writings  to  their  character.  He  attended  his 
pupil  to  Rome,  where  he  became  acquainted  with  Paul 
Jovius,  in  whose  history  he  afterwards  pointed  out  some 
errors.  On  his  return  from  Italy,  the  cardinal. of  Lorraine 
procured  him  in  1555  the  bishopric  of  Metz,  but  according 
to  Beza,  (Hist.  Ecclesiast.  lib.  xvi.  p.  439),  this  was  littl$ 

1  Diet.  Hist.— Saxii  Onomasti<*on.> 
*  Alorvri  from  a  MS.  of  father  Ouitin. 


t*6  -  BE  A  U  C  A  I  B  E. 

more  than  a  titular  preferment,  the  cardinal  reserving  the 
revenues,  or  the  greater  part  of  them,  to  himself.     Ac-' 
cording   to  the  same  author,  Beaucaire,  with  two  other 
bishops,  came  to  Metz,  and  occasioned  an  alarm  among 
the  inhabitants  of  the 'reformed  religion,  some  of  whom 
thought  proper  to  retire  for  safety  from  the  city.     Beza, 
however,  adds  that  Beaucaire  only  wrote  a  small  tract  in 
Latin  on    "  Sanctification,"   and  "  The  Baptism  of  In- 
fants," which  was  soon  answered.     Some  time  after  his 
promotion,  his  patron,  the  cardinal,  carried  him  with  him 
to  the  council,  on  the  day  that  the  fathers  of  the  council 
had  appointed  as  a  thanksgiving  for  the  battle  of  Dreux, 
fought  Jan.  3,  1563,  and  here  Beaucaire  pronounced  an 
oration,  which  was  much  applauded,  and  is  inserted  at  the 
end  of  the  thirtieth  book  of  his  "  History  of  his  own  times*" 
This  work   he   began   in   1568,    when  he,  resigned    his 
bishopric  to  his  patron,  and  retired  tp  his  castle  of  la  Chrete 
in   Bourbonnois.     He  died  Feb.  14,   1591.     His   history, 
which  extends  from  1461  to  1580,  or  according  to  Bayle 
from   1462  to  1567,   according  to  either  account  is  not 
very  properly  called  a  history  of  Jus  own  times.     The  title 
of  the  publication,  however,  is  "  Rerurn  Gallicarum  Cona- 
mentaria,  ab.  A.  1462  usque  ad  A.  1-566,"  Lyons,  1625,  fol. 
Saxius  doubts  whether  he  be  the  same  Francis  Bellicarius, 
who  translated  the  first  book  of  the  Greek  Anthology  into 
Latin,  as  asserted  by  Fabrlcius,  and  which  was  published 
at  Paris,  1543,  4to.     His  other  works  are  so  differently  and 
confusedly  spoken  of,  that  we  shall  refer  our  readers  to  his 
biographers,  rather  than  attempt  to  reconcile  tbem.     His 
tract  on  the  baptism  of  infants,  above  alluded  to  by  Beza, 
may  perhaps  be  "  Traifc6  des  enfans  mom  dans  le  sein  de 
leurs  meres,"  1567,  Svo,  the  question  being,  whether  chil- 
dren dying  in  the  womb,  and  consequently  without  baptism, 
are  s&ved,  which  he  was  disposed  to  answer  in  the  nega- 
tive.    The  Calvinists  held  that  children  dying  in  infancy 
are  saved,  an  opinion,  we  presume,  that  will  seldom  be 
denied.1 

BEAUCHAMPS  (Joseph),  a  member  of  the  national 
Institute  of  France,  and  an  astronomer  of  considerable  fame, 
was  born  at  Vesoul,  June  29,  1752.  He  was  originally  in- 
tended for  the  church,  and  in  1767,  entered  the  order  of 
the  Bernardines,  but  his  turn  for  astronomy  induced  him 

1  Gen.  Diet.— Moreri.— Diet  Hist.— Saxii  Onomasticoa. ' 


B  E  A  U  C  H  A  M  P  8.  sf67 

> 

to  become  the  pupil  of  Lalande,  and  one  of  the  ablest  of 
his  scholars.  His  uncle  Miroudat,  bishop  of  Babylonia, 
having  appointed  him  his  vicar-general,  he  left  France  in 
1781,  to  exercise  the  functions  of  that  office  in  the  Le- 
vant, and  at  the  same  time  to  tafce  astronomical  observa- 
tions. He  went  first  to  Aleppo,  thence  to  Bagdad,  Bas- 
sora,  and  Persia.  On  the  eve  of  the  revolution,  he  re- 
turned to  France,  after  having  contributed  very  essentially, 
to  the  promotion  of  the  sciences  of  astronomy  and  geography, 
as  may  appear  by  his  communications  in  the  "Journal  des 
Savans"  for  1782,  1784,  1785,  1787,  1788,  and  1790.  Hs 
remained  with  his  family  until  1795,  when  the  then  French 
government  appointed  him  consul  at  Mascate,  a  Portuguese 
settlement  in  Arabia;  but  in  1797,  we  find  him  at  Coqstan- 
tinople,  whence  he  sailed  along  the  Black  Sea,  making 
many  observations,  and  rectifying  many  errors  in  the 
charts  of  that  sea.  When  Bonaparte  was  appointed  com- 
mander of  the  expedition  to  Egypt,  he  recalled  Beau- 
champs  from  Mascate,  and  added  him  to  the  number  of 
scientific  men  attached  to  the  army.  In  1799,  Bonaparte 
sent  him  on  a  secret  mission  to  Constantinople,  but  before 
he  h%d  proceeded  far  from  the  port  of  Alexandria,  he  was 
taken  by  the  English,  and  delivered  up  to  the  grand  Turk 
as  a  spy.  By  the  intercession,  however,  of  the  ambassa- 
dors of  Spain  a#d  Russia,  his  punishment  was  mitigated  to 
imprisonment  in  a  strong  castle  on  the  borders  of  the  Black 
Sea,  and  in  1801  he  was  released.  Bonaparte;*  then  first 
consul,  appointed  him  mercantile  commissary  at  Lisbon, 
but  before  he  could  reach  this  place,  he  died  at  Nice, 
Nov.  19,  1801,  to  the  great  regret  of  his  friends,  and  parti- 
cularly of  the  learned  world. l 

BEAUCHAMPS  (Pierre  Francois  Godard  de),  a 
French  miscellaneous  writer,  was  born  at  Paris  in.  1689, 
and  died  in  that  metropolis  in  1761.  •  He  wrote,  1.  "  The 
Loves  of  Ismene  &  lsm6nias,"  1743,  *8vo,  a  free  transla- 
tion of  a  Greek  romance  by  Eustathius,  or  rather  Euma- 
thius,  who  must  not  be  confounded  with  Eustathius  the 
grammarian,  and  author  of  the  commentary  on  Homer.  It 
contains  interesting  adventures,  in  that  species  of  epic 
poetry  in  prose  which  partakes  at  once  of  the  tragic  and 
comic  vein.  A  beautiful  edition  of  it  was  published  at 
Paris  in  1797,  4to,    with  illuminated  prints.     2.  "The 

»  Diet.  Hist. 


N 


208  BEAUCHAMPS. 

* 

loves  of  Rhodantes  &  Docicles,"  another  Greek  romance 
by  Theodoras  Prodromus,  translated  into  French,  1746; 
12mo.  3.  "  Recherches  sur  les  Theatres  de  France, " 
1735,  4to,  and  8vo,  3  vols.  Beauchamps  did  not  confine 
himself  to  the  titles  of  the  dramatical  pieces:  he  has  added 

Particulars  of  the  lives  of  some  of  the  French  comedians ; 
ut  he  has  omitted  a  number  of  interesting  anecdotes,  with 
which  he  might  have  embellished  his  work.  It  were  to  be 
wished  that  he  had  developed  the  taste  of  the  former  ages 
of  the  French  for  dramatic  representations,  the  art  and  the 
progress  of  tragedy  and  comedy  from  the  time  of  Jodelle ; 
the  genius  of  the  French  poets,  and  their  manner  of  imi- 
tating the  ancients.  But  Beauchamps,  in  this  work,  is 
little  more  than  a  compiler,  and  that  from  well-known 
materials.  4.  "  Lettres  d'H£loi*e  &  d'Abailard,"  in  French 
verse,  fluent  enough,  but  prosaic,  1737,  8vo.  5.  "  Se- 
veral theatrical  performances."  6.  The  romance  of  "Fu- 
nestine,"  1757. l 

BEAUCHATEAU  (Francois  Matthieu  Chatelet  de), 
born  at  Paris  in  1643,  was  the  son  of  a  player,  and  was 
considered  as  a  poet  when  no  more  than  eight  years  old. 
The  queen,  mother  of  Louis  XIV.  cardinal  Mazarin,  the 
chancellor  Seguier,  and  the  first  personages  of  the  court, 
took  pleasure  in  conversing  with  this  child,  and  in  exer- 
cising his  talents.  He  was  only  twelve  ytfars  old  when  he 
published  a  collection  of  his  poetical  pieces,  in  4to,  under 
the  title  of  "  La  Lyre  de  jeune  Apollon,1*  or,  "  La  Muse 
naissant  du  petit  de  Beauchateau,"  with  copper-plate  por- 
traits of  the  persons  he  celebrates.  About  two  years  after- 
wards he  went  over  to  England  with  an  ecclesiastic.  Crom- 
well and  the  most  considerable  persons  of  the  then  govern- 
jnent  admired  the  young  poet.  It  is  thought  that  he  tra- 
velled afterwards  into  Persia,  where  perhaps  he  died,  as 
no  farther  tidings  were  ever  heard  of  him.  He  had  a  bro-  . 
ther,  Hypolite  Chastelet  de  Beauchateau,  an  impostor,  who 
pretended  to  abjure  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  and  came 
over  to  England  under  the  disguised  name  of  Lusancy. 
Moreri  and  Anth.  Wood  in  Ath.  Ox.  vol.  II.  give  an  ac- 
count of  this  adventurer. 2 

BEAVER  (John),  otherwise  named  Bever,  and  in  Latin 
Fiber,  Fiberius,  Castor,  and  Castorius,  was  a  Benedictine 
monk  in  Westminster-abbey,  and  flourished  about  the  be- 

i  Diet.  Hi»t.  2  Moreri.~Attv  Ox. 


r~ 


BEAVER.       '  269 

ginning  of  the  fourteenth  century.  He  was  a  man  of  quick 
parts*  and  of  great  diligence  and  ingenuity  :  and  applied 
himself  particularly  to  the  study  of  the  history  and  anti- 
quities of  England.  Among  other  things,  he  wrote  a 
"  Chronicle  of  the  British  and  English  Affaire,"  from  the 
coming  in  of  Brute  to  his  own  time,  now  among  the  Cot- 
ton ian  MSS.  Hearne  issued  proposals  for  publishing  it  in 
1735,  which  his  death  prevented.  He  also  wrote  a  book 
H  De  Rebus  coenobii  Westmonasteriensis,"  of  Westminster-* 
abbey,  and  the  several  transactions  relating  thereto.  Ice- 
land commends  him,  as  an  historian  of  good  credit;  and  he 
is  also  cited  with  respect  by  Stowe  in  his  Survey  of  London 
and  Westminster.  Baje  says  he  does  not  give  a  slight  or 
superficial  account,  but  a  full  and  judicious  relation,  of 
things ;  and  takes  proper  notice  of  the  virtues  and  vices  of 
the  persons  mentioned  in  his  history. 

There  w?  >  another  of  the  same  name,  a  monk  of  Su 
Alban's :  who  left  behind  him  a  collection  of  some  treatises 
that  are  of  no  great  value.  They  are  extant  in  the  king's 
library. l 

BEAUFILS  (Willjam),  a  Jesuit,  was  bom  at  St  Flour 
in  Auvergne  in  1674,  and  died  at  Toulouse  at  a  very  ad- 
vanced age  in  1758.  Preaching,  the  composition  of  some 
literary  works,  and  the  direction  of  a  number  of  pious  vo- 
taries, for  which  he  had  uncommon  attractions  and  a  pe- 
culiar talent,  took  up  almost  the  whole  of  his  life.  The 
pieces  be  published  are,  I.  "  Several  funeral  discourses.'* 
2..Tbe  "  Life  of  Madame  de  Lestonac."  3.  The  life  of 
"  Madame  de  Chantal ;"  and,  4.  "  Letters  on  the  govern* 
ment  of  Religious  Houses,"  Paris,  1740,  12mo.  • 

BEAUFORT  (Henry),  bishop  of  Winchester,  and 
cardinal  priest  of  the  church  of  Rome,  was  the  son  of 
John  of  Gaunt,  duke  of  Lancaster,  by  his  third  wife,  Ca- 
therine Swinford.  He  studied  for  some  years  both  at  Cam- 
bridge  and  at  Oxford,  in  the  latter  in  Queen's  college,  and 
was  afterwards  a  benefactor  to  University  and  Lincoln  col- 
leges, but  he  received  the  principal  part  of  his  education  at 
Aix>  la  Chapelle,  where  he  was  instructed  in  civil  and  com* 
jnon  law.  Being  of  royal  extraction,  he  was  very  young  when 
advanced  to  the  prelacy,  and  was  made  bishop  of  Lincoln 
in  1397*  by  an  arbitrary  act  of  Boniface  IX.  John  Becking* 
ham,  bishop  of  that  see,  being,  contrary  to  his  wishes,  trans* 

*  Bi©£.  Brit,— Leland,  &o.  *  Diet.  Hist* 


270  BEAUFORT. 

lated  to  Lichfield,  to  make  room  for  Beaufort,  but  Beck- 
in  gham,  with  becoming  spirit,  refused  the  proffered  dio- 
cese, and  chose  to  become  a  private  monk  of  Canterbury. 
In  1399  Beaufort  was  chancellor  of  the  university  of  Ox- 
ford, and  at  the  same  time  dean  of  Wells.  He  was  lord 
high  chancellor  of  England  in  1404,  and  in  some  years  af- 
terwards. The  following  year,  upon  the  death  of  the  cele- 
brated Wykeham,  he  was,  at  the  recommendation  of  the 
king,  translated  to  the  see  of  Winchester.  In  1414,  the 
second  of  his  nephew  Henry  V.  he  went  to  France,  as  one 
of  the  royal  ambassadors,  to  demand  in  marriage  Catherine* 
daughter  of  Charles  VI.  In  1 4 1 7  he  lent  the  king  twenty 
thousand  pounds  (a  prodigious  sum  in  those  days),  towards 
carrying  on  his  expedition  against  France,  but  had  the 
crown  in  pawn  as  a  security  for  the  money.  This  year  also 
he  took  a  journey  to  the  Holy  Land ;  and  in  his  way,  being 
arrived  at  Constance,  where  a  general  council  was  held,  he 
exhorted  the  prelates  to  union  and  agreement  in  the  elec- 
tion of  a  pope ;  and  his  remonstrances  contributed  not  a 
little  to  hasten  the  preparations  for  the  conclave,  in  which 
Martin  III.  was  elected.  We  have  no  farther  account  of 
what  happened  to  our  prelate  in  this  expedition.  In  1421 
he  had  the  honour  to  be  godfather,  jointly  with  John  duke 
of  Bedford,  and  Jacqueline,  countess  of  Holland,  to  prince 
Henry,  eldest  son  of  his  nephew  Henry  V.  and  Catherine 
of  France,  afterwards  Henry  VI.  M.  Aubery  pretends, 
that  James,  king  of  Scots,  who  bad  been  several  years  a 
prisoner  in  England,  owed  his  deliverance  to  the  bishop  of 
Winchester,  who  prevailed  with  the  government  to  set  him 
free,  on  condition  of  his  marrying  his  niece,  the  grand- 
daughter of  Thomas  Beaufort,  earl  of  Somerset.  This  prelate 
was  one  of  king  Henry  Vlth's  guardians  during  his  mino- 
rity ;  and  in  1424,  the  third  of  the  young  king's  reign,  he 
was  a  fourth  time  lord -chancellor  of  England.  There  were 
perpetual  jealousies  and  quarrels,  the  cause  of  which  is  not 
very  clearly  explained,  between  the  bishop  of  Winchester, 
and  the  protector,  Humphrey  duke  of  Gloucester,  which 
ended  in  the  ruin  and  death  of  the  latter.  Their  dissensions 
began  to  appear  publicly  in  1425,  and  to  such*  a  height, 
that  Beaufort  thought  it  necessary  to  write  a  letter  to  his 
nephew  the  duke  of  Bedford,  regent  of  France,  which  is 
extant  in  Holinshed,  desiring  his  presence  in  England, 
to  accommodate  matters  between  them.  TI19  regent  ac- 
cordingly arriving  in  England  the  20th  of  December,  was 


BEAUFORT*  S71 

*  > 

met  by  the  bishop  of  Winchester  tyith  a  numerous  train, 
and  soon  after  convoked  an  assembly  of  the  nobility  at  St. 
Alban's,  to  hear  and  determine  the  affair.  But  the  ani- 
mosity on  this  occasion  was  so  great  on  both  sides,  that  it 
was  thought  proper  to  refer  the  decision  to  the  parliament, 
which  was  to  be  held  at  Leicester,  March  25,  following. 
The  parliament  being  met,  the  duke  of  Gloucester  pro- 
duced six  articles  of  accusation  against  the  bishop,  who 
answered  them  severally,  and  a  committee  appointed  for 
the  purpose,  having  examined  the  allegations,  he  was  ac- 
quitted. The  duke  of  Bedford,  however,  to  give  some  sa- 
tisfactipn  to  the  protector,  took  away  the  great  seal  from 
his  uncle.  Two  years  after,  the  duke  of  Bedford,  return- 
ing into  France,  was  accompanied  to  Calais  by  the  bishop 
of  Winchester,  who,  on  the,  25th  of  March,  received  there 
with  great  solemnity,  in  the  church  of  Our  Lady,  the  car- 
dinal's hat,  with  the  title  of  St.  Eusebius,  sent  him  by  pope 
Martin  V.  In  September  1428,  the  new  cardinal  returned 
into  England,  with  the  character  of  the  pope's  legate  lately 
conferred  on  him;  and  in  his  way  to  London,  he  was  met 
by  the  lord-mayor,  aldermen,  and  the  principal  citizens 
on  horseback,  who  conducted'  him  with  great  honour  and  re- 
spect to  his  lodgings  in  Southwark:  but  he  was  forced,  for 
the  present,  to  wave  his  legatine  power,  being  forbidden 
the  exercise  of  it  by  a  proclamation  published  in  the  king's 
name.  Cardinal  Beaufort  was  appointed,  by  the  pope's 
bull,  bearing  date  March  25,  1427-8,  his  holiness' s  legate 
in  Germany,  and  general  of  the  crusade  against  the  Hus- 
sites, or  Heretics  of  Bohemia,  Having  communicated  the 
pope's  intentions  to  the  parliament,  he  obtained  a  gnant  of 
money,  and  a  considerable  body  of  forces,  under  certain 
restrictions ;  but  just  as  he  was  preparing  to  embark,  the 
duke  of  Bedford  having  sent  to  demand  a  supply  of  men 
for  the  French  war,  it  was  resolved  in  council,  that  car- 
dinal Beaufort  should  serve  under  the  regent,  with  the 
troops  of  the  crusade,  to  the  end  of  the  month  of  December, 
on  condition  that  they  should  not  be  employed  in  any  siege. 
The  cardinal  complied,  though  not  without  reluctance,  and 
accordingly  joined  the  duke  of  Bedford  at  Paris.  After  a 
stay  of  forty-five  days  in  France,  he  marched  into  Bohe- 
mia, where  he  conducted  the  crusade  till  he  was  recalled 
by  the  pope,  and  cardinal  Julian  sent  in  his  place  with  a 
larger  army.  The  next  year,  1430,  the  cardinal  accom- 
panied king  Henry  into  France,  being  invested  with  the 


272     .  frEAUFQRT; 

title  of  the  king's  principal  counsellor,  and  had  the  honouf 
to  perform  the  ceremony  of  crowning  the  young  monarch 
in  the  church  of  Notre  Dame  at  Paris  ;  where  he  had  some 
dispute  with  James  du  Chastellier,  the  archbishop,  who 
claimed  the  right  of  officiating  on  that  occasion.  During, 
his  stay  in  France  he  was  present  at  the  congress  of  Arras 
for  concluding  a  peace  between  the  kings  of 'England  and 
France,  and  had  a  conference  for  that  purpose  with  the 
dutchess  of  Burgundy,  between  Calais  and  Gravclines, 
which  had  no  effect,  and  was  remarkable  only  for  the  car-* 
dtnal's  magnificence,  who  came  thither  with  a  most  splen- 
did train.  In  the  mean  time  the  duke  of  Gloucester  took 
advantage  in  England  of  the  cardinal's  absence  to  give  him 
fresh  mortification.  For,  first,  having  represented  to  the 
council,  that  the  bishop  of  Winchester  intended  to  leave 
the  king,  and  come  back  into  England  to  resume  his  seat 
in  council,  in  order  to  excite  new  troubles  in  the  kingdom, 
and  that  his  intentions  were  the  more  criminal,  as  he  made 
use  of  the  pope's  authority  to  free  himself  from  the  obliga- 
tions of  assisting  the  king  in  France ;  he  procured  an  order 
of  council  forbidding  all  the  king's  subjects,  of  what  con-, 
dition  soever,  to  accompany  the  cardinal,  if  he  should  leave 
the  king-,  without  express  permission.  The  next  step  the 
protector  took  against  him,  was  an  attempt  to  deprive  him 
of  his  bishopric,  as  inconsistent  with  .  the  dignity  of  car- 
dinal; but  the  affair  having  been  a  long  time  debated  in 
council,  it  was  resolved  that  the  cardinal  should  be  heard, 
and  the  judges  consulted,  before  any  decision.  Being  re- 
turned into  England,  he  thought  it  necessary  to  take  some 
precaution  against  these  repeated  attacks,  and  prevailed 
with  the  king,  through  the  intercession  of  the  commons, 
to  grant  him  letters  of  pardon  for  all  offences  by  him  com- 
mitted contrary  to  the  statute  of  provisors,  and  other  acts 
of  praemunire.  This  pardon  is  dated  $t  Westminster,  July 
19,  1432.  Five  years  after,  he  procured  another  pardon 
under  the  great-seal  for  all  sorts  of  crimes  whatever,  from 
the  creation  of  the  world  to  the  26th  of  July  1437.  Not* 
withstanding  these  precautions,  the  duke  of  Gloucester,  in 
1442,  drew  up  articles  of  impeachment  against  the  car- 
dinal, and  presented  them  with  his  own  hands  to  the  king, 
but  the  council  appointed  to  examine  them  deferred  their 
report  so  long  that  the  protector  discontinued  the  prosecu- 
tion. The  cardinal  died  June  14,  1447,  having  survived 
the  duke  of  Gloucester  npt  above  a  month,  of  whose  mux* 


BEAUFORT.  ,21% 

4er  he  wa$  suspected  to  haVe  been  one  of  the  coritrivers, 
-and  it  is  said  that  he  expressed  great  uneasiness  at  the  ap- 
proach of  death,  and  died  in  despair ;  but  for  this  there  does 
not  appear  much  foundation,  and  we  suspect  the  commonly- 
received  character  of  Beaufort  is  mostly  credited  by  those  / 
who  have  considered  Shakspeare  as  an  authentic  historian. 
We  rather  agree  with  the  historian  of  Winchester,  that 
there  is  no  solid  ground  for  representing  him  as  that  am- 
bitious, covetous,  and  reprobate  character  which  Shakspeare 
has  represented,  and  who  has  robbed  his  memory,  in  order 
to  enrich  that  of  his  adversary,  popularly  termed  tJae  cc  good 
duke  Humphrey'*  of  Gloucester.    Being  involved  in  the 
vortex  of  worldly  politics,  it  is  true,  that  he  gave  too  much 
scope  to  the  passions  of  the  great,  and  did  not  allow  him- 
self sufficient  leisure  to  attend  to  the  spiritual  concerns  of 
his  diocese.  He  possessed,  however,  that  munificent  spirit, 
which  has  cast  a  lustre  on  the  characters  of  many  persons 
of  past  times,  whom  it  would  be  difficult  otherwise  to  pre- 
-  sent  as  objects  of  admiration.     If  he  was  rich,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  he  did  not  squander  away  his  money  upou 
unworthy  pursuits,  but  chiefly  employed  it  in  the  public 
service,  to  the  great  relief  of  the  subjects,  with  whom,  and 
with  the  commons9  house  of .  parliament,  he  was  popular. 
He  employed  his  wealth  also  in  finishing  the  magnificent 
cathedral  of  Winchester,  which  was  left  incomplete  by  his 
predecessor,  in  repairing  Hyde-abbey,  relieving  prisoners, 
and  other  works  of  charity.    But  what,  Dr.  Milner  says,  has 
chiefly  redeemed  the  injured  character  of.  cardinal  Beau- 
fort, in  Winchester  and  its  neighbourhood,  is  the  new  foun- 
dation which  he  made  df  the  celebrated  hospital  of  St.  Cross. 
Far  the  greater  part  of  the  present  building  was  raised  by 
him,  and  he  added  to  the  establishment  of  his  predecessor, 
Henry  de  Blois,  funds  for  the  support  of  thirty-five  more 
brethren,  two  chaplains,  and  three  women,  who  appear  to 
have  been  hospital  nuns.     It  appears  also,  says  the  same 
writer,  that  he  prepared  himself  with  resignation  and  con* 
trition  for  his  last  end ;  and  the  collected,  judicious,  and 
pious  dispositions  made  in  his  testament,  the  codicil  of 
which  was  signed  but  two  days  before  his  dissolution,  may 
justly  bring  into  discredit  the  opinion  that  he  died  in  de- 
spair.    He  was  buried  at  Winchester  in  the  most  elegant 
and  finished  chantry  in  the  kingdom. l 

*  Bk>g.  Brit.— Milner*s  Hist,  of  Winchester.— See  also  an  elaborate  life  of 
Jteaufort,  by  Mr.  Gotigfa,  in  Vetusta  Monuments,  yqI,  II.— Nichols'*  Royal  Willi* 

Vol.  IV.  T 


S7*  BEAUFORT* 

BEAUFORT  (Margaret);  the  foundress  of  Christ's  ainl  * 
St.  John's  colleges  in  Cambridge,  was  the  only  daughter 
and  heir  of  John  Beaufort,  duke  of  Somerset  (grandson  of 
John  of  Gaunt,  duke  of  Lancaster),  and  of  Margaret  Beau-' 
champ  his  wife.  She  was  born  at  Bletshoe  in  Bedfordshire^ 
in  1441.  About  the  fifteenth  year  of  her  age,  being  a 
rich  heiress,  the  great  duke  of  Suffolk,  minister  to  Henry 
the  Vlth.  solicited  her  in  marriage  for  his  son ;  while  the? 
king  wooed  her  for  his  half-brother  Edmund,  then  earl  of. 
Richmond.  On  so  nice  a  point  the  good  young  lady  ad- 
vised with  an  elder  gentlewoman;  who,  thinking  it  too: 
great  a  decision  to  take  upon  herself,  recommended  her  to 
St.  Nicholas,  the  patron  of  virgins.  She  followed  her  in- 
structions, and  poured  forth  her  supplications  and  prayers 
with  such  effect,  that  one  morning,  whether  sleeping  or 
waking  she  could  not  tell,  there  appeared  unto  her  some-* 
body  in  the  habit  of  a  bishop,-  and  desired  she  would  ac- 
cept of  Edmund  for  her  husband.  Whereupon  she  mar-* 
lied  Edmund  earl  of  Richmond ;  and  by  him  had  an  only 
son,  who  was  afterwards  king  Henry  the  Vllth*  Edmund 
died,  Nov.  3,  1456,  leaving  Henry  his  son  and  heir  but 
fifteen  weeks  old :  after  which  Margaret  married  sir  Henry 
Stafford,  knight,  second  sou  to  the  duke  of  Buckingham, 
by  whom  she  had  no  issue.  Soon  after  the  death  of  sir 
Henry  Stafford,  which  happened  about  1482,  she  was 
married  again  to  Thomas  lord  Stanley,  who  was  created 
earl  of  Derby,  Oct.  27,  1485,  which  was  the  first  year  of 
her  son's  reign ;  and  this  noble  lord  died  also  before  her 
in  1504. 

The  virtues  of  this  lady  are  exceedingly  celebrated.  Her 
humility  was  such,  that  she  would  often  say,  "  on  condi- 
tion that  the  princes  of  Christendom  would  combine  them- 
selves, and  march  against  the  common  enemy  the  Turks, 
she  would  most  willingly  attend  them,  and  be  their  laun- 
dress in  the  camp."  For  her  chastity,  the  rev.  Mr.  Baker, 
who  republished  bishop  Fisher's  "  Funeral  Sermon"  oit 
her,  in  1708,  informs  us  in  a  preface,  that,  as  it  was  un- 
spotted in  her  marriage,  so  in  her  last  husband's  days,  and 
long  before  his  death,  she  obtained  a  licence  of  him  to  live 
chaste  ;  upon  which  she  took  upon  her  the  vow  of  celibacy 
from  Fisher's  hands,  in  a  form  yet  extant  in  the  registers 
of  St.  John's-college  in  Cambridge ;  and  for  this  reason^ 
as  Baker  supposes,  her  portrait  is  usually  taken  in  the  ha- 
bit of  a  nun.    All  this  for  a  lady  who  had  had  three  huar 


BEAU  F  6 UTi  VIS 

bands,  and  Was  now  advanced  in  life,  will  not,  we  are 
afraid,  be  considered  as  any  very  violent  degree  of  con- 
straint. Her  education,  however,  had  qualified  her  for  a 
studious  and  retired  way  of  life.,  She  understood  the 
French  language  perfectly,  and  had  some  skill  in  the  La- 
tin ;  bat  would  often  lament  that  in  her  youth  she  did  n6t 
make  herself  a  perfect  mistress  of  /it.  This  affection  for 
literature  no  doubt  induced  her  mother-in-law,  the  duchess 
of  Buckingham,  to  give  her  the  following  legacy  in  her 
last  will :  "  To  her  daughter  Richmond,  a  book  of  English, 
being  a  legend  of  saints;  a  book  of  French,  called  Lucun; 
another  book  of  French,  of  the  epistles  and  gospels  ;  and 
a  primer  with  clasps  of  silver  gilt,  covered  with  purple  vel- 
vet," This  was  a  considerable  legacy  of  its  kind  at  that 
time,  when  few  of  her  sex  were  taught  letters ;  for  it  has 
often  been  mentioned  as  an  extraordinary  accomplishment 
in  Jane  Shore,  the  darling  mistress  of  Edward  IV.  that  she 
could  write  and  read. 

\  Lady  Margaret,  however,  could  do  both;  and  there  are 
4bme  of  her  literary  performances  still  extant.     She  pub- 
lished, c<  The  mirroure  of  golde  for  the  sinfall  soule," 
translated  from  a  French  translation  of  a  book  called,  *  Spe- 
culum aurenm  peccatorum,'  vqry  scarce.     She  also  trans-* 
lated  out  of  French  into  English,  the  fourth  book  of  Ger- 
son's  treatise  "Of  the  imitation  and  following  the  blessed 
life  of  our  most  merciful  Saviour  Christ,"  printed  at  the 
end  of  Dr.  William  Atkinson's  English  translation  of  the  three 
first  books,  1 504.     A  letter  to  her  son  is  printed  in  Ho- 
ward's "  Collection  of  Letters."    ♦She  also  made,  by  her 
son's  command  and  authority,  the  orders,  yet  extant,  for 
great  estates  of  ladies  and  noble  women,  for  their  prece-* 
dence,  &c.     She  was  not  only  a  lover  of  learning,  but  a 
great  patroness  of  learned  men ;  and  did  more  acts  of  real 
goodness  for  the  advancement  of  literature  in  general,  than 
could  reasonably  have  been  expected  from  so  much  super-* 
etition.  •  Erasmus  has  spoken  great  things  of  her,  for  the 
munificence  shewn  in  her  foundations  and  donations  of 
several  kinds ;  a  large  account  of  which  is  given  by  Mr. 
Baker,  in  the  preface  prefixed  to  the  "  Funeral  Sermon." 
What  adds  greatly  to  the  merit  of  these  donations  is,  that 
some  of  the  most  considerable  of  them  were  performed  in 
her  life-time j  as  the  foundation  of  two  colleges  in  Cam* 
-bridge. 

T  2 


8T«  BEAUFORT, 

-   Her  life  was  checquered  with  a  variety  of  good  and  bad 
fortune :  but  she- bad  a  greatness  of  soul,  which  seems  to 
have  placed  her  above  the  reach  of  either ;  so  that  she  wa» 
.  neither  elated  with  the  former,  nor  depressed  with  the 
latter.     She  was  most  affected  with  what  regarded  her 
only  child,  for  whom  she  haa  the  most  tender  affection. 
She  underwent  some  hardships  on  his  account.     She  saw 
him  from  an  exile,  by  a  wonderful  tuta  of  fortune,  advanced 
to  the  crown  of  England,  which  yet  he  could  not  keep 
without  many  struggles  and  difficulties  ;  and  when  he  had 
reigned  twenty-three  years,  and  lived  fifty-two,  she  saw  him 
carried  to  his  grave.  Whether  this  might  not  prove  too  great 
a  shock  for  her,  is  uncertain ;  but  she  survived  him  only 
three  months,  dying  at  Westminster  on  the  29th  Of  June, 
1509.     She  was  buried  in  his  chapel,  and  had  a  beaqtiful 
monument  erected  to  her  memory,  adorned  with  gilded 
brass,  arms,  and  an  epitaph  round  the  verge,  drawn  up  by 
Erasmus,  at  the  request  of  bishop  Fisher,  for  which  he  had 
twenty  shillings  given  him  by  the  university  of  Cambridge. 
Upon  this  altar-tomb,  which  is  enclosed  with  a  grate,,  is 
placed  the  statue  of  Margaret  countess  of  Richniond  and 
Derby,  in  her  robes,  all  of  solid  brass,  with  two  pillars  on 
each  side  of  her,  and  a  Latin  inscription,  of  which  the  foK 
lowing  is  a  translation :   "To  Margaret  of  Richmond,  the 
mother  of  Henry  VII.  and  grandmother  of  Henry  VI1L 
who  founded  salaries  for  three  monks  in  this  convent,  for  a 
grampiar-school  at  Wymborn,  and  a  preacher  of  God's 
word  throughout  England;  as  also  for  two  divinity-lec- 
turers, the  one  at  Oxford,  the  other  at  Cambridge;  in 
which  last  place  she  likewise  built  two  colleges,  in  hopour 
of  Christ  and  bis  disciple  St  John.     She  died  in  the  year 
of  our  Lord  1509,  June  the  29th."     This  lady  was  the 
daughter  and  sole  heiress  of  John  Beaufort  duke  of  Somer- 
set, who  was  grandson  to  John  of  Gaunt,  duke  of  Lancas- 
ter, fourth  son  of  Edward  the  Third. .    Her  mother,  Mar- 
garet Beauch&mp,  was  daughter  and  heiress  of  the  lord 
Beauchamp  of  Powick.     Bishop  Fisher  observes,  "  that  by 
her  marriage  with  the  earl  of  Richmond,  and  by  her  birth, 
she  was  allied  to  thirty  kings  and  queens,  within  the  fourth 
degree  either  of  blood  or  affinity ;  besides  earls,  mar- 
quisses,  dukes,  and  princes:  and  since  her  death/'  as  Mr. 
Baker  says,  "she  has  been  allied  in  her  posterity  to  thirty 
more."     Her  will,  which  is  remarkably  curious,  is  printed 


B  E  A  U  F  O  R  T.  2*7 

'ft  length  in  the  "  Collection  of  Royal  and  Noble  Wills," 
17*0,  4to,  p.  376.  * 

BE  AULIEU  de  Pontault.     See  PONTAULT. 

BEAUMARCHAIS  (Peter  Auoustin  Caron  de),  a 
French  dramatic  writer  of  modern  celebrity,  was  born  at 
Paris,  Jan.  24,  1732.  His  father  was  a  watchmaker,  and 
at  the  age  of  twenty-one  himself  invented  an  improvement 
in  watchmaking,  which  being  contested  by  an  eminent  ar- 
tist, was  decided  in  favour  of  young  Beaumarchais  by  the 
academy  of  sciences.  Being  passionately  fond  of  music, 
and  especially  of  the  harp,  be  introduced  some  improve- 
ments in  this  instrument,  which,  with  his  excellent  per- 
formance, gained  him  admittance  to  Mesdamcs,  the  daugh- 
ters of  Louis  XV.  to  give  them  lessons,  and  this  was  the 
origin  of  his  fortune.  He  lost  two  wives  successively,  and 
then,  gained  three  considerable  law-suits-  The  papers 
which  he  published  concerning  each  of  these  causes,  ex- 
cited great  attention.  He  had  also  an  aiffair  of  honour  with 
a  duke,  in  consequence  of  which  he  was  sent  to  Fort 
UEv£que.  He  was  afterwards  employed  in  some  political 
transactions  by  the  ministers-  Maurepas  and  Vergennes. 
He  supported  the  scheme  for  the  caisse  d'escompte,  or 
bank  of  discount,  which  he  vainly  thought  to  have  made  a 
rival  to  that  of  England:  but  he  was  more  successful,  al- 
though after  much  opposition,  .in  procuring  the  adoption 
of  a  scheme  for  a  fire-pump  to  supply  the  city  of  Paris 
with  water.  A  plan,  also,  concerning  poor  women,  was 
executed  at  Lyons,  and  gained  him  the  thanks  of  the  mer- 
chants of  that  city.  After  the  death  of  Voltarrd,  he  pur- 
chased the  whole  of  his  manuscripts,  and  not  being  able  to 
print  them  in  France,  established  a  press  at  KeJJ,  *  where* 
they  were  printed  in  a  very  magnificent  maimer  with  Bas- 
kerville's  types.  w  .  :    " 

When  the  American  war  took  place,  Beaumarchais  spe- 
culated in  supplying  the  Americans  with  arms,  ammuni- 
tion, &c.  and  although  some  of  his  ships  were  taken  by  the 
English,  he  was  so  successful  with  the  rest  as  to  realize  a. 
considerable  fortune,  and  built  a  magnificent  house  in  the 
Faubourg  St.  Antoine.  He  was  planning  the  construction 
of  a  bridge  over  the  Seine,  when  the  revolution  intervened 
to  oppose  his  projects,  and  although  he  was  one  of  those  • 

•  «       *  *  * 

1  Biog.  Brit/-— Bp.  Fishefs  Sermon  published  by  Baker.— -Park's  edition  of 
IValpole's  Royal  and  Nobfe  Authors. 


278  B  E  A  U  M  A  R  C  H  A  I  S. 

ttho  had  contributed  to  the  public  stock  of  discontent,  he 
never  became  popular  with  the  revolutionists.  In  1790, 
having  signed  sucontract  with  the  war  minister,  to  furnish 
60,000  musquets,  which  he  was  to  procure  from  Holland, 
and  not  having  delivered  one,  although  he  had  received 
500,000  francs  in  advance,  the  people  accused  him  of 
forming  a  depot  of  them  in  his  house  on  the  Boulevard, 
and  he  was  imprisoned  for  a  time,  but  released,  after  which 
lie  took  refuge  in  England.  In  1794  he  returned  to  Paris, 
and  began  to  collect  the  remains  of  his  fortune,  but  dissi- 
pated the  principal  part  in  a  speculation  on  salt.  In  May 
1799,  he  died  of  an  apoplectic  stroke,  after  a  life  of  bustle 
and  intrigue,  and  divided  between  literature  and  business* 
His  countrymen  do  not  represent  his  character  in  the  most 
amiable  light :  his  morals  were  not  of  the  purest  species, 
and  his  more  favourable  personal  accomplishments  were 
obscured  by  a  self-conceit,  and  a  love  of  talking  about  and 
praising  himself,  which  he  could  never  repress*  It  was  said 
that  if  he  had  been  ordered  to  be  hanged,  he  would  have 
Requested  a  gallows  as  high  as  Hainan's,  that  he  might  be 
more  conspicuous. 

-  His  works  are,  1.  "  Memoires  contre  les  sieurs  de  Goetz- 
man,  La  Blache,  Marin  d'Arnaud,"  1774  and  1775.  2. 
€*  Memoire  en  reponse  a  cehii  de  Guillaume  Kornmann," 
Paris,  1787.  These  relate  to  his  law-suits  above-mentioned, 
to  which  it  is  said  that  no  man  but  himself  could  have  at- 
tached such  an  importance  as  to  render  them  objects  of 
public  curiosity  and  conversation.  His  dramatic  career 
was  more  brilliant.  It  began  with,  3.  "  Eugenie,"  a  dra- 
ma in  five  acts,  1767,  taken  partly  from  theDiable  Boiteux 
of  Lfe  'Sage,  and  partly  from  some  incidents  in  his  own  fa- 
mily. 4..  "Les  deux  amis,"  1770.  5,  "  Le  Barbier  de 
Seville,"  1775.  6.  "  Le  Mariage  de  Figaro,"  1784,  two 
pieces  since  familiarized  to  the  English  stage,  the  former 
by  Colman  the  elder,  and  the  latter  by  Holcroft  7.  "  Ta- 
rare,'9  an  opera,  (787,  not  of  much  poetical  merit.  8.  "  La 
Mere  coupable,"  1792.  9.  "  Memoire  en  reponse  au  ma- 
nifeste  du  roi  d'Angleterre,"  afterwards  suppressed.  10. 
'*  Memoires  a  Lecointre  de  Versailles,  ou  mes  six  Epoques," 
Paris,  1795.  These  and  other  pieces  have  been  since  col- 
lected into  an  edition  of  his  works  published  in  1 809,  7 
vols.  8vo.  In  1802,  a  life  of  him  was  published,  which  ^e 
have  not  seen.  * 

X 

*  Biog .  Modern*— Diet.  Hist 


3  E  AUMELLR  «7t 

.  BEAUMELLE  (Laurence  Angliviel  be  la),  a  French 
writer  of  some  note,  was  born  at  Valleraugues,  in  the  dio- 
cese of  Allais,  in  1727,  and  diqd  at  Pahs  Nov.  1773.  Being 
invited  to  Denmark  as  professor  of  the  French  belles-lettres, 
he  opened  this  course  of  literature  by  a  discourse  that  was 
printed  in  1751,  and  well  received.  Having  always  lived 
in  the  south  of  France,  a  residence  in  the  north  could 
hardly  agree  with  him,  but  he  was  held  in  such  esteem, 
that  he  quitted  Denmark  with  the  title  of  privy-counsellor 
and  a  pension.  Stopping  at  Berlin,  he  was  desirous  of 
forming  an  intimacy  with  Voltaire,  with  whose  writings  be 
was  much  captivated ;  but,  both  being  of  irritable  and  im- 
petuous characters,  they,  had  no  sooner  seen  each  other 
than  they  quarrelled,  without  hope  of  reconciliation.  The 
history  of  this  quarrel, /which,  gave  rise  to  so  many  per* 
sonalities  and  invectives,  is  characteristic  of  both  parties* 
A  reflection  in  a  publication  of  la  Beaumelle,  entitled  "  Mes 
Pens6es,"  was  the  first  cause  of  it.  This  work,  very  stu- 
diously composed,  but  written  with  too  much  boldness* 
procured  the  author  many  enemies  \  and,  on  his  arrival  at 
Paris  in  1753,. he  was  imprisoned  in  the  Bastille.  No  sooner 
was  he  let  out,  than  he  published  his  "  Memoirs  of  Main* 
tenon,"  which  drew  on  him  a  fresh  detention  in  .that  royal 
prison.  La  Beaumelle,  having  obtained  his  liberty,  re- 
tired into  the  country,  where  he  put  in  practice  the  lesson* 
he  had  given  to  Voltaire,  in  the  following  letter :  "  Well, 
then,  tare  afle  once  more  at  liberty ;  let  us  revenge  our* 
selves  on  these  misfortunes  by  rendering  them  of  use  to 
us.  Let  us  lay  aside  all  those  literary  infirmities  whiclu. 
iiave  spread  so  many  clouds,  over  the  course  of  your  life* 
bo  much  bitterness  over  my  youthful  years.  A  little  more 
glory,  a  little  more  opulence;  What  does  it  all  signify  i 
Let  us  seek  the  reality  of  happiness,  and  not  its  shadow, 
The  most  shining  reputation  is  never  worth  what  it  costs. 
Charles  V.  sighs  after  retirement ;  Ovid  wishes  to  be  a  fool. 
We  are  once  more  free*  I  am  out  of  the  Bastille ;  you  are 
no  longer  at  court.  Let  us  make  the  best  use  of  a  benefit 
that  may  be  snatched  from  us  at  every  moment.  Let  us 
entertain  a  distant  respect  for  that  greatness  which  is  so 
dangerous  to  those  that  came  near  it,  and  that  authority, 
so  terrible  even  to  them  that  exercise  it ;  and,  if  it  be  true 
that  we  cannot  venture  to  think  without  risk,  let  us  think 
Do  more.  Do  the  pleasures  of  reflection  counterbalance 
those  of  safety  ?  '  Let  us  be  persuaded,  you,  after  sixty 


i , 


*S0  B  E  A  XJ  U  E  L  L*E: 

years  of  experience  ;  me,  after  six  months  of  annihilation* 
Let  us  be  wiser,  or  at  least  more  prudent ;  ami  the  wrinkles 
of  age,  and  the  remembrance  of  bolts  and  bars,  those  in- 
juries of  time  and  power,  will  prove  real  benefits  to  us." 

He  now  cultivated  literature  in  peace,  and  settled  him- 
self in  the  comforts  of  domestic   life  by  marrying  the 
daughter  of  M.  Lavaisse,  an  advocate  of  great -practice  at 
Thoulouse.     A  lady  of  the  court  called  hitn  to  Paris  about 
the  year  1772,  and  wished  to  fix  him  there,  by  procuring 
turn  the  place  of  librarian  to  the  king ;  but  he  did  not  long 
enjoy  this  promotion  ;  a  dropsy  in  the  chest  proved  fatal 
the  following  year.     He  left  a  ion  and  a  daughter.     His 
works  are :  1.  "  A  Defence  of  Montesquieu's  '  Esprit  des 
Loix,"  against  the  author  of  the  "  Nouvelles  Ecclesias- 
tiques,"  which  is  inferior  to  that  which  the  president  de 
Montesquieu  published  himself,  but  for  which  that  writer 
expressed  his  thanks.     2.  "  Mes  Pens^es,  ou,  Le  Qu'eti 
dira-t-on?"   1751,   12mo;  a  book  which  has  not  kept  up, 
its  reputation,   though  containing  a  great  deal  of  wit? 
but  the' author  in  his  politics  is  often  wide  of  the  truth,, 
and  allows  himself  too  decisive  a  style  in  literature  and 
morals.     The  passage  in  this  book  which  embroiled  him 
with  t Voltaire  is  this  :  "  There  have  been  better  poets  than 
Voltaire;  but  none  have  been  ever  so  well  rewarded.     The 
king  of  Prussia  heaps  his  bounty  on  men  of  talents  exactly 
from  the  same  motives  as  induce  a  petty  prince  of  Ger- 
many to  heap  his  bounty  on  a  buffoon  or  a  dwarf.'*  3.  "The 
"  Memoirs  of  Madame  de  Maintenon,"  1756,  6  vols.  12mo. 
^which  were  followed  by  9  vols.1  of  letters.     In  this  work 
many  facts  are  given  on  conjecture,  and  others  disfigured ; 
nor  is  Madame  de  Maintenon  made  to  think  and  speak  as 
she  either  thought  or  spoke.     The  style  has  neither  the 
propriety  nor  the  dignity  that  is  proper  to  history,  but  the 
author  occasionally  writes  with  great  animation  and  energy, 
discovering  at  times  the  precision  and  the  force  of  Ta- 
citus, of  whose  annals  he  left  a  translation  in  manuscript. 
He  had  bestowed  much  study  on  that  philosophic  historian, 
and  sometimes  is  successful  in  the  imitation  of  his  manner. 
4»  "Letters  to  M.  de  Voltaire,"  1761,  12mo,  containing  sar- 
castic remarks  oh  Voltaire's  "  Age  of  Louis  XIV."  Voltaire 
refuted  these  remarks  in  a  pamphlet  entitled  "  Supplement 
to  the  age  of  Louis  XIV."  in  which  ho  shews  it  to  be  an 
odious  thing  to  seize  upon  a  work  on  purpose  to  disfigure 
it    La  Beaumelle  in  1754  gave  out  an  "  Answer  to  this 


^EA  UM  E  L  L  E.  281 

Supplement,"  which  he  re-prt>duced  in  1761,  under  the 
title  of  "  Letters/'     To  this  Voltaire  made  no  reply  ;  but 
shortly  after  stigmatized  it  in  company  with  several  others, 
in  his  infamous  poem  the  "  Pucelle,"  where  he  describes 
la  Beaumelle  as  mistaking  the  pockets  of  other  men  for 
his  own.     The  writer,  thus  treated,  endeavoured  to  cancel 
the  cahramy  by  a  decree  of  the  parliament  of  Thoulouse  ;» 
but  other  affairs  prevented  him  from  pursuing  this.     Vol- 
taire, however,  bad  some  opinion  of  his  talents ;  and  the 
writer  of  this  article  has  seen  a  letter  of  his  in  which  he 
says  :  "  Ce  pendard  a  bien  de  V esprit." — "  Thetrascal  has 
a  good,  deal  of  wit.9'     La  Beaumelle,  on  the  other  hand* 
*aid  :  "  Personne  n'gcrit  mieux  que  Voltaire." — "  No  one 
writes  better  than  Voltaire.*'     Yet  these  mutual  acknow- 
ledgments of  merit  did  not  prevent  their  passing  a  con- 
siderable part  of  their  life  in  mutual  abuse.     The  abbS 
Irail  informs  us,  that  la  Beaumelle  being  one  day  asked 
why  be  was  continually  attacking  Voltaire  in  his  books  ? 
" Because,"  returned  he,  "he  never  spares  me  in  his  *  and 
my  books  sell  the  better  fgr  it."     It  is  said,  however,  that 
la  Beaumelle  would  have  left  off  writing  against  the  author 
of  the  Henriade ;  and  even  would  have  been  reconciled 
with  him,  had  he  not  imagined  that  it  would  be  impossible 
to  disarm  his  wrath,  and  therefore  he  preferred  war  to  ah 
insecure  peace:     5.^ "  Pens6es  de  Seneque,".  in  Latin  and 
French,  in  1 2mo,  after  the  manner  of  the  "  PensSes  de 
Cic^ron,"  by  the  abb6  d'Olivet,  whom  he  has  rather  imi- 
tated than  equalled.     6.   "  Commentaire  sur  la  Henriade," 
Paris,  1775,  2  vols.  8vo.     Justice  and  taste  are  sometimes 
discernible  in  this  performance,  but  too  much  severity  and 
too  many  miriute  remarks.     7.  A  manuscript  translation 
of  the  Odes  of  Horace.     8.  "  Miscellanies,"  also  in  MS, 
among  which  are  some  striking  pieces.     The  author  h&d 
a  natural  bent  towards  satire.     His  temper  was  frank  and 
honest,  but  ardent  and  restless.     Though  his  conversation 
was  instructive,  it  had  not  that  liveliness  which  we  perceive 
in  his  writings. ' 

BEAUMONT  (Sir  John),  w  English  poet,  was  the 
son  of  Francis  Beaumont  one  of  the  judges  of  the  common 
pleas  in  the  reign  of  queen  Elizabeth,  and  brother  of 
Francis,  the  dramatic  colleague  of  Fletcher.  He  was  born 
in  1582,  at  Grace- Dieu,  the  family  seat  in  Leicestershire, 

J  Diet  Hi»t 


2*2  BEAUMONl 

and  admitted  a  gentleman  Commoner  of  BroadgateVhal!, 
(how  Pembroke  college)  Oxford,  the  beginning  of  Lent 
term,  1596.  After  three  years  study  here,  during  which 
he  seems  to  have  attached  himself  most  to  the  poetical 
classics*  he  became  a  member  of  ode  of  the  inns  of  court, 
but  soon  quitted  that  situation,  and  returned  to  Leices- 
tershire, where  he  married  Elizabeth  daughter  of  John 
Fortescue,  esq. 

In  1626,  king  Charles  conferred  on  him  the  dignity  of 
a  baronet,  which  sir  John  survived  only  two  years,  dying 
in  the  winter  of  1628.  He  is  said  by  Anthony  Wood  to 
have  been  buried  at  Grace-Dieu,  but  this  is  a  mistake  for 
Belton,  as  the  priory  church  was  not  then  existing.  The 
cause  of  his  death  is  obscurely  hinted  at  in  the  following 
lines  by  Drayton : 

**  Thy  care  for  that,  which  was  not  worth  thy  breath, 
Brought  on  too  soon  thy  much-lamented  death. 
But  Heav'n  was  kind,  and.  would  not  let  thee  see 
The  plagues.that  must  upon  this  nation  be, 
By  whom  the  Mu$es  have  neglected  been, 
Which  shall  add  weight  and  measure  to  their  sin." 

What  these  lines  imply  it  is  not  easy  to  conjecture. 
Sir  John  died  at  the  age  of  forty-six,  almost  in  the  prime 
of  life,  and  his  poetical  attempts  were  the  amusement  of 
his  young  days,  which  he  had  relinquished  for  more  se- 
rious studies. 

He  had  seven  sons  and  four  daughters.  Of  his  sons,  the 
most  noticeable  were,  John,  his  successor,  the  editor  of 
his  father's  poems,  and  himself  a  minor  poet ;  Francis, 
the  author  of  some  verses  on  his  father's  poems,  who  be- 
came afterwards  a  Jesuit ;  Gervase,  who  died  at  seven 
years  old,  and  was  lamented  by  his  father  in  sojne  very 
pathetic  verses,  in  the  late  edition  of  the  English  poets ; 
and  Thomas,  the  third  baronet.  Sir  John,  who  succeeded 
bis  father,  is  recorded  as  a  man  of  prodigious  bodily 
strength.  He  was  killed  in  1644  at  the  siege  of  Glou- 
cester, and  dying  unmarried,  was  succeeded  in  title  by 
his  brother  Thomas,  who,  like  him,  was  plundered  by  the 
republicans. 

Besides  his  works,  in  the  "  English  poets,"  Wood  as- 
cribes to  our  author  a  poem  in  eight  hooks,  entitled  "  The 
Crpwn  of  Thorns  ;"  and  a  work  under  this  title  is  alluded 
to  in  Hawkins's  commendatory  verses,  but  it  has  escaped 
the  researches  of  the  poetical  collectors. 


I^EAU  MO-NT.  2» 

:  His  other  poems  were  published  in  1629,  uhder  the 
title  of  "  Bos  worth -field,  with  a  taste  of  the  variety  of  othei^ 
poems,  left  by  sir  John  Beaumont,  baronet,  deceased;  set 
forth  by  his  sonne,  sir  John  Beaumont,  baronet,  and  de- 
dicated to  the  king's  most  excellent  majestie."  They  a«e 
prefixed,  not  only  by  this  loyal  dedication  to  the  king, 
but  by  commendatory  verses  by  Thomas  Hawkins ;  the 
author's  sons  John  and  Francis;  George  Forteseue,  the 
brother  of  his  lady ;  Ben  Jonson,  Drayton,  &c. 

Bosworth  Field  is  the  most  considerable  of  this  collec- 
tion, and  certainly  contains  many  original  specimens  of  the 
heroic  style,  not  exceeded  by  any  of  his  contemporaries, 
and  the  imagery  is  frequently  just  and  striking.  The  line* 
describing  the  death  of  the  tyrant  may  be  submitted  with 
confidence  to  the  admirers  of  Shakspeare.  Among  his 
lesser  poems,  a  few  sparklings  of  invention  may  now  and 
then  be  discovered,  and  his  translations  are  in  general 
spirited  and  correct.  His  verses  on  the  true  form  of  Eng- 
lish poetry,  addressed  to  king  James  1.  entitle  him  to  a. 
place  among  the  most  judicious  critics  of  his  time,  and 
the  chaste  complexion  of  the  whole  shews  that  to  genius, 
he  added  virtue  and  delicfecy. > 

BEAUMONT  (Francis),  third  son  of  Francis,  the 
judge,  was  born  at  Grace- Dieu,  in  Leicestershire,  1586 ; 
and  in  the  beginning- of  Lent  term  1596,  was  admitted 
(with  his  two  brothers  Henry  and  John)  a  gentleman  com- 
moner of  Broad  gate's-hail,  now  Pembroke-college,.  Oxford. 
Anthony  Wood,  who  refers  his  education  to  Cambridge, 
mistakes  him  for  his  cousin  Francis,  master  of  the  Charter* 
house,  who  died  in  1624.  It  is  remarkable,  that  there 
were  four  Francis  Beaumonts  of  this  family,  all  living  in 
1615,  and  of  these  at  least  three  were  poetical ;  the  master 
of  the  Charter-house,  the  dramatic  writer,  and  Francis 
Beaumont,  a  Jesuit. 

Our  poet  studied  for  some  time  in  the  Inner  Temple,  and 
his  "Mask  of  the  Inner  Temple  and  Gray's -inn,"  wasacted 
and  printed  in  1612-13,  when  he  was  in  bis  twenty-sixth 
year.  His  application  to  the  law  was  probably  not  very 
intense,  nor  indeed  is  it  possible  to  conceive  that  be  could 
have  been  preparing  for  the  practice  of  the  bar,  and  pro-r 
ducing  his  poems  and  plays  within  the  limits  of  a  life  not 
exceeding  thirty  years.     He  appears  to  have  devoted  him*. 

\       1  Eftgiifh  Poets,  21  vols.  1 8a 0.— Nichols's  Hist,  of  Leifettershirt. 


2*4  BEAU  MONT. 

self  »to  the  dramatic  muse  from  a  very  early  period ;  but 
at  what  time  he  commenced  a  partnership  with  Fletcher, 
who  was  ten  years  older,  is  not  known.  The  date  of  their 
first  play  is  1607,  when  Beaumont  was  in  his  twenty-first 
year ;  and  it  was  probably  acted  some  time  before.  He 
brought,  however,  into  this  firm  a  genius  uncommonly 
fertile  and  commanding.  In  all  the  editions  of  their  plays, 
and  in  'every  notice  of  their  joint  productions,  notwith- 
standing Fletcher's  seniority,  the  name  of  Beaumont  always 
stands  first. 

Their  connection,  from  similarity  of  taste  and  studies, 
was  very  intimate,  and  it  would  appear,  at  one  time,  very 
(economical*  Aubrey  informs  us,  that  "There  was  a  won- 
derful consimility  of  fancy  between  Mr.  Francis  Beaumont 
and  Mr.  John  Fletcher,  which  caused  that  dearness  of 
friendship  between  them.  I  have  heard  Dr.  John  Earl, 
since  bishop  of  Sarum,  say,  who  knew  them,-'  that  •  his 
(Beaumont's)  main  business  was  to  correct  the  super-over- 
Sowings  of  Mr.  Fletcher's  wit.  They  lived  •  together  on 
the  Bankside,  not  far  from  the  play-house,  both  bachelors; 
had  one  bench  in  the'  house  between  them,  which  they 
did  so  admire;  the  same  fcloaths,  cloak,  &c.  between 
them."  With  respect  to  the  specific  share  he  had  .  in  the 
plays  which  have  been  published  as  the  joint  production  of 
Beaumont  and  Fletcher,,  the  reader  may  find  much  in-* 
formation,  and  perhaps  all  that  can  now  be  ascertained  on 
this  subject,  in  the  preliminary  matter  of  the  edition  pub- 
lished in  1778,  10. vols.  8vo,  or  more  briefly  in  a  note  in 
Mr.  Malone's  life  of  Dryden,  vol.  II.  p.  100—101.  Sir 
Egerton  Brydges,  whose  judgment,  is  <of  sterling  value  in 
matters  of  literary  antiquity,  suspects  that  great  injustice 
has  been  generally  done  to  Beaumont;  by  the  supposition 
of  Larigbaine  and  others  that  his  merit  was  principally 
confined  to  lopping  the  redundancies  of  Fletcher.  He  ac- 
quits, however,  the  editors  of  the  Biographia  Dramatica 
of  this  blame.  They  say,  "  It  is  probable  that  the  forming 
of  the  plots,  and  contriving  the  conduct  of  the  fable,  the 
writing  of  the  mere  serious  and  pathetic  parts,  and  lopping 
the  redundant  branches  of  Fletcher's  wit,  whose  luxurian- 
ces, we  are  told  frequently,  stood  in  need  of  castigation,  might 
be,  in  general,  Beaumont's  portion  of.  the  work.  "  This,9* 
adds  Mr.  Brydges,  "  is  to  afford  him  very  high  praise,?1 
and  the  authorities  of  sir  John  Birkenhead,  Jasper  Mayne, 
sir  George  Lisle,  and  others,  amount  to  strong  proof  that 


BE  A  U  MO  NTT.  >  2*3 

he  fcr&s  considered  by  his  contemporaries  in  a  superior 
light,  (and  by  none  more  than,  by  Jonson),  and  that  this 
estimation  of  his  talents  was  common  in  the  life-time  of 
his  colleague,  who,  from  candour  or  friendship,  appears 
to  have  acquiesced  in  every  respect  paid  to  the  memory  of 
Beaumont. 

How  his  life  was  spent,  his  works  show.  The  produc- 
tion of  so  n^iy  plays,  and  the  interest  he  took  in  their 
success,  were  sufficient  to  occupy  his  mind, during  his  short 
span,  which  cannot  be  supposed  to  have  be«n  diversified 
by  any  other  events  than  those  that  are  incident  to  candi- 
dates for.  theatrical  fame  and  profit.  Although  his  ambi- 
tion was  confined  to  one  object,  his  life  probably  abounded 
in  those  .little  varieties  of  hope  and  fear,  perplexity  and  sa- 
tisfaction, jealousy  and  rivalsbip,  friendship  and  caprice, 
which  are. to  be  experienced  within  the  watts  of  a  theatre, 
and  compose  the  history  of  a  dramatic  writer. 

He  appears'  a  satirist  on  women  in  some  of  his  poems, 
but  he  was  more  influenced  by  wit  than  disappointment 
and  probably  only  versified  the  common-place  raillery  of 
the  times.  He  married  Ursula,  daughter  and  co-heir  of 
Henry  Isley  of  Sundridge  in  Keut,  by  whom  he  had  two 
daughters.  One  of  these,  Frances*  was  living  at  a  great 
age  in  Leicestershire,  in  1700,  and  at  that  time  enjoy e^.  a 
pension  of  100/.  a-year  from  the  duke  of  Ormond,  in  whose 
family  she  had  resided  for  some  time  as  a  domestic.  She 
had  once  in  her  possession  several  poems  of  her  father's 
writing,  which  were  lost  at  sea  during  her  voyage  from  Ire- 
land. Mr.  Beaumont  died  e?rly  in  March,  1615-16,- and 
was  buried  on  the  9th,  at  the.  entrance  of  St.  Benedict's 
chapel  near  the  earl  of  Middlesex's  monument,  in  the  col* 
legiate  church  of  St.  Peter,  Westminster,  without  apy  in- 
scription, 

The  first  edition  of.  his  poems  appeared  in  1640,  4to, 
and  the  second  in  1653,  but  neither  so  correct  as  could  be 
wished.  The  editor  of  both  was  the  bookseller,  Laurence 
Blaiklock,  whom  Anthony  Wood  characterises  as  a  "  Pres- 
byterian bookbinder  near  Temple-bar,  afterwards  an  in- 
former to  the  committee  of  sequestration  at  Haberdashers* 
and.  Goldsmiths'  hall,  and  a  beggar  defunct  in  prison." 
Whoever  he  was,  he  put  together. what  he  could  find  in 
circulation,  without  much  discernment  or  inquiry,  and  has. 
mixed  with  Beaumont's  several  pieces  that  belong  to  other 
authors,    The  oply  poem  printed  in  Beaumont's  life-time 


*fc  BEAUMONT. 

was  "  Salmaeis  and  Hermaphroditus"  from  Ovid>  which  he 
published  in  1602,  when  he  was  only  sixteen  years  of  age* 
a  circumstance  no^  necessary  to  prove  it  the  production  of 
a  very  young  man. 

His  original  poems  give  him  very  superior  claims  to  4 
place  in  our  collections.  Although  we  find  some  of  the 
metaphysical  conceits  so  common  in  his  day,  particularly  in 
the  elegy  on  lady  Markham,  he  is  in  general  more  free 
from  them  than  his  contemporaries.  His  sentiments  are 
elegant  and  refined,  and  his  versification  is  unusually  har-» 
monious.  Where  have  we  more  lively  imagery,  or  in  such 
profusion,  as  in  the  sonnet  "  Like  a  ring  without  a  finger  ?^ 
His  amatory  poems  are  sprightly  and  original,  and  some  of 
his  lyrics  rise  to  the  impassioned  spirit  of  Shakspeare  and 
Milton.  Sir  E.  Brydges  is  of  opinion  that  the  third  song 
in  the  play  of  "  Nice  Valour"  afforded  the  first  hint  of  the 
II  Penseroso.  ■ 

BEAUMONT  (Joseph),  D.  D.  roaster  of  Peter-bouse, 

Cambridge,  and  king's  professor  of  divinity,  was  a  descend* 

ant  of  the  ancient  family  of  Beaumont  in  Leicestershire* 

His  father,  who  died  in  16  53,  had  been  a  woollen  manufacturer 

at  Hadleigh  in  Suffolk,  where  our  author,  his  eldest  son,  was  < 

born  March  13,  1615.     His  father,  who  discovered  in  him 

a  turn  for  letters,  placed  him  at  the  grammar  school  of  his 

native  place,  where  he  made  uncommon  proficiency  in 

classical  learning,  and  in  his  sixteenth  year  was  removed  to 

Peteihouse  in  Cambridge,  and  distinguished  himself,  not 

more  by  his  literary  acquirements  than  by  his  pious  and 

orderly  department,  acquiring  the  high  esteem  of  Dr.  Co* 

sins,  then  master  of  that  college,  and  afterwards  bishop  of 

Durham.    After  taking  his  degree  of  A.  B.  he  was  elected 

fellow,  and  afterwards  tutor  and  moderator.     In  1643,  as 

he  adhered  loyally  to  his  sovereign,  he  was  obliged  to  leav£ 

the  university,  then  in  possession  of  the  usurping  'powers, 

and  being  ejected  from  his  fellowship,  he -retired  to  Had* 

leigh,  where  he  associated  with  some  other  persons  of  his 

own  sentiments,  chiefly  his  former  pupils  and  the  sons  of 

his  friend  and  patron  bisbop  Wren ;  and  here  he  appears 

to  have  amused  himself  in  writing  his  "  Psyche,"  which 

was  begun  in  April  1647,  finished  before  the  'end  of  March 

1648,  and  published  the  same  year;  an  allegorical  poem, 

displaying  the  "  Intercourse  between  Christ,  and  the  Soul," 

i 

4  £a|liih  feet*  SI  vols,  1S10.— NieMs'i  Hift  of  Uk*tte«hire,      .    - 


BEAUMO  NT.  2ST 

which  was  mucli  admired  hi  his  time,  but  has  not  preserved 
its  popularity.  Pope  is  reported  to  have  said  of  it,  that 
"  there  are  in  it  a  great  many  flowers  well  worth  gathering, 
and  a  man  who  has  the  art  of  stealing  wisely  will  And  his 
account  in  reading  it."  His  biographer,  however,  confes- 
ses that  he  has  generally  preferred  the  effusions  of  fancy  td 
the  corrections  of  judgment,  and  is  often  florid  and  affected, 
obscure  and  perplexed.  His  Latin  poems,  although 
perhaps  superior  in  style,  are  yet  below  the  purity  of 
the  Augustan  age.  All  his  poetical  efforts  were  the 
amusement  of  his  leisure  hours  during  the  rebellion,  by 
which  he  lost,  besides  his  fellowship,  some  preferment* 
which  bishop  Wren  had  bestowed  on  him,  as  the  rectory  of 
KelshaU  in  Hertfordshire  in  1643,  that  of  Elm  with  the 
chapel  of  Emneth  in  1646,  and  the  seventh  canonry  and 
prebend  in  the  cathedral  of  Ely  in  1647.  And  so  zealous 
was  bishop  Wren  for  his  interest  and  happiness,  that  he 
took  him  into  bis  house  as  his  domestic  chapjain,  and  mar* 
ried  him  to  his  step-daughter  in  1650.  With  her  Mr. 
Beaumont  retired  to  Tatingston-place,  where  they  lived  in 
a  private  manner  until  the  restoration.  On  that  event  he 
took  possession  of  his  former  livings,  and  was  also  admitted 
into  the  first  list  Qf  his  majesty's  chaplains,  and  by  his  ma* 
jesty's  mandamus  was  created  D.  D.  in  1660.  In  1661  he 
removed,  at  bishop  Wren's  desire,  to  Ely,  where  he  had  the 
misfortune  to  lose  his  wife  in  1662.  •  In  April  of  that  year, 
on  the  resignation  of  Dr.  Pearson,  master  of  Jesus9  college, 
Cambridge,  the  bishop  of  Ely  appointed  him  successor, 
and  in  1663,  on  the  death  of  Dr.  Hale,  master  of  Peter* 
house,  he  was  removed  to  the  headship  of  that  college, 
which  he  governed  with  great  care  and  liberality.  The 
same  year  he  was  instituted  to  the  rectory  of  Teversham 
near  Cambridge,  and*  in  1664  to  that  of  Barley  in  Hert- 
fordshire, where  he  alternately  resided  in  the  vacation 
months  every  summer,  feeding  the  poor,  instructing  the 
ignorant,  and  faithfully  discharging  his  pastoral  charge.  In 
1665  he  was  drawn  into  a  controversy  with  Dr.  Henry 
More,  who  bad  advanced  some  doctrines  in  bis  "  Mystery 
of  Godliness,"  which  our  author  thought  subversive  of  our 
constitution  ift  church  and  state,  and  productive  of  many 
evils  to  the  Christian  religion;  Dr.  More  replied  t6 
this  charge,  but  Dr.  Beaumont  received  the  thanks  of  the 
university  for  his  services  on  this  occasion.  In  1670  he 
was  elected  to  the  divinity  chain    In  the  course  of  his  lee* 


*8S  BEAUMONT. 

tares,  which  he  read  for  twenty-nine  years,  he  went  through 
the  two  epistles  to  the  Romans  and  Colossians,  with  a  view 
to  explain  the  difficulties  and  controversies  occasioned  by 
some  passages  in  them.     In  1689,  when  the  Comprehen- 
sion was  attempted,  in  order  to  unite  the  church  and  dis- 
senters, he  was  one  of  the  commissioners  appointed  for  that 
purpose,  but  never  took  his  place  at  the  board,  convinced 
of  the  little  probability  that  such  a  scheme  should  succeed. 
He  continued  to  discharge  the  several  duties  of  his  office, 
even  when  advanced  to  his  eighty- fourth  year,  and  preached 
before  the  university  in  turn,  Nov.  5,  1699;  but  a  high  fe- 
ver came  on  the  same  evening,  which,  with  the  addition  of 
the  gout  in  his  stomach,  proved  fatal  on  the  23d  of  the  same 
month.     His  biographer  sums  up  his  character  in  these 
words :  "  He  was  religious  without  bigotry,  devout  with- 
out superstition,  learned  without  pedantry,  judicious  with- 
out censoriousness,    eloquent  without  •  vanity,    charitable 
without  ostentation,  generous  without  profusion,  friendly 
without  dissimulation,  courteous  without  flattery,  prudent 
without  cunning,   and  humble  without  meanness."     Mr. 
Cole  informs  us,  that  in  1662  he  obtained,  from  the  .vice-' 
chancellor  of  Cambridge,  a  dispensation  to  eat  flesh  in  Lent, 
as  fish  did  not  agree  with  his  constitution ;  probably  this 
was  among  the  last  instances  of  such  a  scruple  in  .the  Pro- 
testant church.     His  "  Psyche"  was  reprinted,  with  many 
of  the  author's  corrections,  and  the  addition  of  four  cantos, 
in  1702,  by  his  son  Charles  Beaumont,  A.  M.  of  Peter- 
house,  who  informs  us  that  his  father  left  all  his  works,  cri- 
tical and  polemical,  to  the  college,  strictly  forbidding  the 
printing  of  any  of  them.     In  1749  was  published  his  lesser 
"  Poems  in  English  and  Latin,  with  an  appendix,  contain- 
ing some  dissertations  and  remarks  on  the  Epistle  to  the 
Colossians,"  4to.    To  this  is  prefixed  an  account  of  his 
life,  from  which  the  present  sketch  has  been  taken.  * 

BEAUMONT  de  Perefjx.     See  PEREFIX. 

BEAUNE  (Florimond  de),  the  son  of  Florimond  de 
Beaune,  seigneur  of  Goulieux,  was  born  at  Blois  in  1601, 
and  having  studied  law,  became  counsellor  of  the  presidial 
of  Blois.  He  was  most  celebrated,  however,  for  his  skill 
in  mathematics,  which  induced  Descartes  to  pay  him  a  visit, 
which  de  Beaune  returned  afterwards,  and  they  frequently 
consulted  one  another  on  their  pursuits.     De  Beaune  in- 

1  I4fe  ubi  supra,— Cole's  MS  Athens  in  Brit  Mu*.— Jacob's  Lives,  &c. 


fe  E  A  U  N  E.  699 

rented  many  astronomical  instruments,  and  some  telescope* 
of  great  utility.  He  is  also  famous  for  a  problem  that  bears 
his  name ;  it  consists  in  the  construction  of  a  curve,  with 
conditions  that  render  it  extremely  difficult.  Descartes 
solved  this  problem;  and  de  Beaune,  animated  by  the 
praises  of  a  man  so  celebrated,  discovered  a  method  of  de- 
termining the  nature  of  curves  by  the  properties  of  their 
tangents.     De  Beaune  died  in  1652,  in  his  fifty-first  year.  * 

BEAURAIN  (John  de),  an  accurate  military  geogra-* 
pher,  the  descendant  of  an  ancient  family,  was  born  at  Aix 
m  Issart  in  1697,  and  at  the  age  of  nineteen  went  to  Paris, 
where  he  studied  geography  under  the  celebrated  Sanson, 
geographer  to.  the  king.  His  progress  was  so  rapid,  and 
his  reputation  so  high,  that  at  the  age  of  twenty-five  he 
was  honoured  with  the  same  title.  A  perpetual  almanac 
which  he  invented,  and  with  which  Louis  XV.  was  much 
pleased,  procured  him  the  patronage  of  that  prince,  for 
whom  he  drew  a  great  number  of  plans  and  charts.  But  hi* 
principal  reputation  rests  on  his  topographical  plans  of  the 
military  kind,  particularly  his  "  Description  topographique 
et  militaire  des  canipagnes  de  Flandre,  depuis  1690  jus- 
qu'en  1694,"  Paris,  1756,  3  vols,  folio,  drawn  up  from  the 
memoirs  of  Vaultier  and  the  marshal  Luxembourg.  He 
had  also  the  honour  of  contributing  to  the  education  of  the 
dauphin,  for  which  a  pension  was  conferred  on  him  in 
|756,  and,  as  he  had  talents  of  the  political  kind,  he  was 
pot  unfrequently  employed  in  negociations  by  cardinal  de 
Fleury  and  Amelot.  He  died  at  Paris,  Feb.  11,  1771.  His 
son,  the  chevalier  de  Beaurain,  who  appears  to  have  inhe- 
rited his  father's  talents  as  a  military  draftsman,  published 
"  Cartes  des  campagnes  de  grande  Cond£  en  Flandre," 
Paris,  fol.  1774;  and  in  1781,  those  of  Turenne,  with  the 
descriptions  of  Grimoard,  compiled  from  Turenne's  original 
papers,  the  correspondence  of  Louis  XIV.  that  of  his  mi- 
nisters, and  several  other  authentic  memoirs,  a  most  splen- 
did folio,  enriched  with  a  great  number  of  charts  and  plans, 
executed  with  uncommon  fidelity,  precision,  and  minute- 
ness, so  as  to  describe  every  motion  of  the  armies  in  the 
most  distinct  manner.  • 

BEURIEU  (Gaspard  Guillard^de),  a  French  miscel- 
laneous writer,  entitled  to  some  notice,  was  born  at  St.  Paul 

*  Moreri.— Wet  Hist. 

*  Dicu  Hist    flte  tfaii  lAfUnentknted  volume  described  in  Monthly  Review, 
IXVI1.  p.  510. 

Vol.  IV.  U 


I 


\    » 


290  BE  URIE  U. 

9 

in  Artois,  July  9,  1728,  and  became  noted  at  Paris  for  hi* 
oddities  and  his  numerous  writings.  He  affected  great 
singularity  in  dress,  and  was  not  less  remarkable  for  his  bona 
mots  and  tart  replies.  When  asked  why  he  followed  no 
profession,  he  said,  "  I  have  been  too  long  enamoured  of 
goodness  and  honour,  to  fix  my  affections  on  fortune.'* 
He  used  to  say  that  "  life  was  a  continual  epigram,  to  which 
death  furnished  the  point/*  There  is' perhaps  not  much  in 
these,  and  probably  the  other  witticisms  we  have  seen  at- 
tributed to  him  derived  their  principal  effect  from  his  man- 
ner, or  from  the  person  or  occasion  when  applied.  He  was, 
however,  a  man  of  great  humanity,  and  particularly  attached 
to  Children,  employing  himself  for  many  years  in  instruct- 
ing them,  and  at  last  he  procured  admission  to  the  Normal 
school,  that  he  might  contribute  his  share  to  the  general 
plan  of  public  education.  His  writings  are,  1.  "  L'Heu- 
reux  citoyen,"  1759,  12 mo.  2.  "  Cours  d'dHistoire  sacree 
et  profane,"  1763  and  1766,  2  vols.  12mo.  3.  "  Abr6g6 
de  Fhistoire  des  Insectes,"  Paris,  1764,  2  vols.  8vo.  4. 
**  L'Heureux  viellard,"  a  pastoral  drama,  1 769.  5.  '?  Cours 
dlhistoire  naturelle,"  Paris,  1770,  7  vols.  12mo.  6.  "  Va- 
rietes  Litteraires,"  1775,  12rno.  7.  "  De  1'alaitement  et 
de  la  premiere  Education  des  Enfans,"  1782,  12mo.  8, 
€€  L'Eleve  de  la  Nature,"  Geneva,  1790,  2  vols.  8vo,  often 
reprinted.  It  contains  an  ingenious  sketch,  but  not  very 
happily  filled  up.  9.  u  L'Accord  parfait,  ou  PEquilibre 
physique  et  morale,"  Paris,  1793.  10.  "  Le  Port-feuiUe* 
Francais,"  &c.  By  all  these  literary  labours,  however,  thg 
Author  appears  to  have  profited  little,  as  he  died  in  an  hos- 
pital at  Paris,  Oct.  5,  1795. 

BEAUSOBRE  (Isaac),  an  eminent  Calvimst  divine  and 
ecclesiastical  writer,  was  born  at  Niort  in  Upper  Poitou, 
March  8,  1659,  of  a  family  originally  of  Provence,  whose 
name  was  Bossart,  which  one  of  his  ancestors  changed  to  Beau- 
sobre,  on  taking  refuge  in  Swisserland  from  the  massacre  of 
St.  Bartholomew's  day.  In  his  youth  he  had  some  favour- 
able opportunities  for  rising  in  the  world.  M.  de  Vieux- 
fburnaux,  cousin-german  to  his  father,  strongly  solicited 
him  not  to  change  his  religion,  but  to  study  law,  because  in 
that  case  he  had  sufficient  interest  with  Madame  de  Main- 
tenon  to  recommend  him  to  her,  who  would  have  made  his 
fortune.  J8ut  as  he  probably  foresaw  that  the  sacrifice  pf 
his  religion  must  ultimately  be  the  consequence,  in  order 
to  secure  him  patronage  of  this  kind,  he  withstood  his  rela- 


1EAUSOBR  E.  291 

tion's  solicitations,  and  pursued  his  original  intention,  that 
of  qualifying  himself  for  the  church.  Having  finished  his 
studies  at  Saumur,  he  was  ofdained,  by  imposition  of  hands, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  in  the  last  synod  of  Loudon;  and 
had  a  congregation  intrusted  to  him,  to  whom  he  officiated 
for  three  or  four  years,  during  which  he  married  Claude 
Louisa  Arnaudeau,  whose  father  was  pastor  of  the  church 
of  Lusignan.  The  days  of  persecution  approaching,  M.  de 
Beausobre's  church  was  shut  up,  and  having  been  so  rash 
as  to  break  it  open,  contrary  to  the  orders  of  the  court,  he 
found  it  necessary  to  make  his  escape.  At  first  he  intend- 
ed to  have  gone  to  England,  but  for  some  reasons,  not  men- 
tioned  in  our  authority,  he  preferred  Holland,  where  he 
recommended  himself  to  the  favour  of  the  princess  of 
Orange,  who  appointed  him  chaplain  to  her  daughter  the 
princess  of  A  nhalt-  Dessau,  and  accordingly  he  went  to 
Dessau  in  1686.  Here  his  situation  was  rendered  pecu- 
liarly agreeable  by  the  kindness  of  the  princess,  the  esteem 
she  conceived  for,  and  the  confidence  she  reposed  in  him ; 
and  here  he  appears  to  have  applied  himself  to  those  studies; 
the  produce  of  which  appeared  soon  afterwards. 

The  first  occasion  of  his  becoming  an  author  was  the 
conduct  of  the  duke  ofxSaxe-Barby,  who  quitted  the  Lu- 
theran communion,  and  printed  a  confession  of  his  faith  in 
1688.  A  year  after  appeared,  under  the  name  of  the  the- 
ological faculty  of  Leipsic,  a  work  in  German,  purporting 
to  be  "  An  inquiry  into  the  motives  which  induced  the 
duke  of  Saxe  to  separate  from  the  Lutherans ;"  and  a  Latin: 
translation  of  it  having  been  submitted  to  M.  Beausobre, 
he  perceived  its  weakness,  and  conceived  it  an  act  of  jus- 
tice in  behalf  of  the  more  moderate  part  of  the  Lutherans, 
to  make  a  public  declaration  of  the  doctrines  of  the  reform- 
ers. Accordingly  this  his  first  work  was  entitled  "  Defense* 
de  la  doctrine  des  Reformes,"  on  the  subjects  of  providence, 
predestination,  grace,  the  Lord's  supper,  &c.  printed  at 
Magdeburgh,  1693.  In  this,  while  he  speaks  favourably  of 
the  moderate  winters  among  the  Lutherans,  he  censures  thte 
others  for  their  bigotry  against  the  Calvinists,  or  against 
any  who  differ  from  them  in  the  least  degree.  His  work 
tvas  extremely  well  received,  although  this  edition  is  full 
of  typographical  errors. 

.  In  1693,  on  the  death  of  John-George  II.  prince  of  Anr 
halt-Dessau,  he  pronounced  a  funeral  oration,  which  was 
printed  at  Berlin,  1695,  4 to,  in  the  form  of  a  "  Sermon 

•     •  v  % 


292  BEAUSOBRE. 

Funebre,"  tlie  subject  of  which  (John  xvii.  3.)  was  pointed 
out  by  the  prince  himself.  After  residing  eight  years  at 
Dessau,  Beausobre,  in  1694,  removed  to  Berlin*,  where  the 
refugees  for  the  cause  of  religion,  many  of  them  his  parti- 
cular friends,  had  formed  an  asylum,  and  where  he  might 
enjoy  the  means  of  educating  his  family.  Hers  he  passed 
the  rest  of  his  life,  and  exercised  his  ministry  for  the  space 
of  forty-six  years,  not  only  as  one  of  the  pastors  appointed 
to  supply  the  churches  of  the  French  refugees,  but  as  chap- 
lain to  their  majesties,  an  office  he  had  the  honour  to  fill 
until  the  death  of  the  queen  Sophia-Charlotte.  He  was 
besides,  counsellor  of  the  royal  consisttny,  inspector  of  the 
French  college,  and  a  year  before  his  death  was  appointed 
inspector  of  the  French  churches  in  Berlin,  and  of  the  oth^r 
churches  comprised  within  the  inspection  of  that  city. 
As  every  church  had  its  separate  pastor,  Basnage  be- 
longed first  to  that  of  Ville-Neuve,  but  on  the  death  of 
his  friend  Mr.  Lenfant  in  1728,  he  succeeded  him  in  the 
church  of  Werder,  where  he  officiated  through  the  remain- 
der of  his  life. 

As  soon  as  Beausobre  became  settled  at  Berlin,  he  re- 
sumed his  favourite  studies,  and  particularly  his  "  History 
of  the  Reformation,"  which  he  carried  down  to  the  Augs- 
burgh  confession,  and  left  it  in  manuscript.  In  this  state 
it  remained  until  1784,  when  it  was  published  at  Berlin  in 
4  vols.  8vo.  Its  principal  object  is  the  origin  and  progress 
of  Lutheran  ism,  in  treating  of  which  the  author  has  availed 
himself  of  Seckendorff's  history,  but  has  added  many  valu- 
able materials.  It  contains  also  very  curious  and  ample 
details  relative  to  the  progress  of  the  reformation  in  France 
and  Swisserland ;  but  it  nevertheless  is  not  free  from  ob- 
jections, both  on  the  score  of  impartiality  and  accuracy. 
In  the  mean  time,  the  Prussian  court  having  desired  M. 
Beausobre  and  his  friend  M.  Lenfant  to  prepare  a  transla- 
tion of  the  New  Testament,  they  shared  the  labour  between 
them,  M.  Lenfant  taking  the  Evangelists,  Acts,  Catholic 
epistle?,  and  the  Apocalypse,  and  M.  Beausobre  the  epistles 
of  St.  Paul.  The  whole  was  published  in  2  vols.  4to,  Amst. 
1718,  with  prefaces,  notes,  &c.  A  second  edition  ap^ 
peared  in  1741,  with  considerable  additions  and  corrections. 
Their  "  Introduction"  was  published  separately  at  Cam- 
bridge (translated  into  English)  in  1779;  and  t)r.  Watson, 
bishop  of  LlandafT,  who  inserted  it  in  the  third  volume  of 
his  "  Theological  Tracts,*'  pronounces  it  a  work  of  extra- 
ordinary merit,  the  authors  having  left  scarcely  any  topic 


BEAUSOBRE.  293 

«    • 

untouched,  on  which  the  young  student  in  divinity  may  be 
supposed  to  want  information*     Their  only  opponent,  at 
the  time  of  publication,  was  a  Mr.  Dartis,  formerly  a  mi- 
nister at  Berlin,  from  which  he  had  retired,  and  who  pub- 
lished a  pamphlet,  to  which  Beausobre  and  Lenfant  made 
separate  replies.     Beausobre  was  one  of  the  principal  mem- 
bers of  a  society  of  literary  men  of  Berlin,  who  called  them 
the  "  Anonymi,"  and  this  connection  led  him  to  be  a  con- 
tributor to  the  "  Bibliotheque  Germanique,"  of  which  he 
was  editor  from  vol.  IV.  to  the  time  of  his  death,  except- 
ing yoI.  XL.     One  of  the  pieces  he  wrote  for.  this  journal 
was  translated  into   English,  and  published  at  London, 
1735,    8vo,  under  the  title  of  "  St.  Jatzko,  or  a  com- 
mentary on  a  passage  in  the  plea  for  the  Jesuits  of  Thorn." 
But  his  most  celebrated  work  was  his  "  Histoire  critique 
de  Manicheisme,"  Amst.  1734,   1739,  2  vols.  4to.     Of  the 
merit  of  this  work  it  may,  perhaps,  be  sufficient  to  give  the 
opinion  of  a  man  of  no  religion,  Gibbon,  who  says  that  "  it 
is  a  treasure  of  ancient  philosophy  and   theology.     The 
learned  historian  spins,  with  incomparable  art,  the  system- 
atic thread  of  opinion,  and  transforms  himself  by  turns' in- 
to the  person  of  a  saint,  a  sage,  or  an  heretic.     Yet  his  re- 
finement is  sometimes  excessive:    he  betrays  an  amiable 
partiality  in  favour  of  the  weaker  side,  and  while  he  guards 
against  calumny,  he  does  not  allow  sufficient  scope  for  su- 
perstition and  fanaticism,"  things,  or  rather  words,  which 
Gibbon  is  accustomed  to  use  without  much  meaning.     The 
journalists  of  Trevoux  having  attacked  this  work,  gave  Mr. 
Beausobre  an  opportunity  of  showing  his  superiority  in  ec- 
clesiastical history,  by  an  answer  published  in  the  Bibl. 
Germanique,  which  perhaps  is  too  long.     He  wrote  also  a 
curious  preface  to  the   **  Memoirs  of   Frederick-Henry, 
prince  of  Orange,"  Amst.  1733.     These  are  all  the  works 
which  appeared  in  the  life-time  of  our  author,  but  he  left  a 
great  many  manuscripts,  dissertations  on  points  of  ecclesi- 
astical history,  and  sermons,  none  of  which,  we  believe, 
have  been  published,  except  the  "  History  of  the  Reform- 
ation,'9 already  noticed,     M.  Beausobre  reached  the  period 
of  old  age,  without  experiencing  much  of  its  influence. 
He  preached  at  the  age  of  eighty  with  vigour  and  spirit. 
His  last  illness  appears  to  have  come  on  in  October  1737, 
and  although  it  had  many  favourable  intermissions,  he  died 
June  5,  1738,  in  the  full  possession  of  his  faculties  and  re- 
collection, and  universally  regretted  by  his  flock,  as  well  as 


^  i 


?94  BEAUSOBRE. 

by  the  literary  world.  The  most  remarkable  encomium 
bestowed  on  him,  is  that  of  the  prince,  afterwards  Frede- 
xick  king"  of  Prussia,  in  a  letter  to  Voltaire,  published  in 
the  works  of  the  latter,.  "  We  are  about  to  lose  one  of  the 
greatest  men  of  Germany. ,  This  is  the  famous  M.  de  Beau- 
sabre,  a  man  of  honour  andprobity,  of  great  genius,  a  taste 
exquisite  and  delicate,  a  great  orator,  learned  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  church  and  in  general  literature,  an  implacable 
enemy  of  the  Jesuits,  the  best  writer  in  Berlin,  a  man  full 
of  6re  and  vivacity,  which  eighty  years  of  life  have  ,not 
chilled;  has  a  little  of  the  weakness  of  superstition,  a  fault 
common  enough  with  peopip  of  his  stamp,  and  is  conscious 
enough  of  his  abilities  to  be  afftcted  by  applause.  This 
loss  is  irreparable.  We  have  no  one  who  can  replace  M, 
de  Beausobre ;  men  of  merit  are  rare,  and  when  nature 
sows  them  they  do  not  always  come  to  maturity."  The 
applause  of  such  a  man  as  Beausobre,.  from  Frederick  of 
Prussia  ta  Voltaire,  is  a  curiosity. 

..  Beausobre  left,,  by  his  first  wife,  two  sons  and  a  daugh- 
ter, and  by  his  second,  whom  be  married  in  his  seventieth 
year,  two  infant  sons.  His  second  son  by  the  first  mar- 
riage, Charles  Louis  Beausobre,.  was  born  at  Dessau  in 
16^0,  and  became  a  pastor  of  a  church  at  Berlfn,  where  he 
died  in  1753.  He  published  "  Disconrs  sur  le  Nouv. 
Test,"  as  a  sequel  to  that  of  Saurin ;  "  Apologie  des  Pro- 
testans*"  and  contributed  to  the  completion  of  his  father's 
History  of  the  Reformation,  which  he  did  not,  however,  live 
to  see  published. l  •  . 

B£  AUSOBtlE  (Lewis),  perhaps  of  the  same  family  with 
the  preceding,  was  born  at  Berlin  in  1730,  where  he  also 
died,  Dec.  3,  1784,  in  consequence  of  an  apoplectic  stroke. 
He  was  privy  counsellor  to  the  king  of  Prussia  in  the 
French  department,  counsellor  of  revision  or*he  supreme 
fconsistory,  and  member  of  the  royal  academy  of  sciences 
and  belles  lettres  at  Berlin.  He  published,  1.  "  Des  dis- 
sertations phjlosophiques  sur  la  nature  de  Feu,"  1753, 
12mo,  containing  many  accurate  observations,  with  some 
of  a  more  doubtful  kind.  2.  "  Le  Pyrrhonisme  du  sage,1* 
1754,  12mo.  3.  "  Les  songes  d' Epicure/'  1756,  12mo» 
4.  "  Introduction  generale  a  Tetude  de  la  Politique,  des 
finances,  et  du  Commerce,"  Berlin,  1771,  3  vols.  12mo. 

I  Cha»fepie'«  Diet  Hist.— Diet.  Hirt> 


BEAUSOBRE.  295 

6.  u  Essai  sur  le  Bonheur,"   and  7.  "  Introduction  i  la 
§tatistique."  * 

BEAUVAIS  (Vincent  of).     See  VINCENT. 

BEAUZEE  (Nicholas),  one  of  the  French  academy, 
and  professor  of  grammar  in  the  military  school,  was  Born 
at  Verdun,  May  9,  1717,  and  died  at  Paris,  Jan.  25,  1789. 
Of  his  early  life  we  have  no  account,  but  he  appears  to 
have  been  selected  by  the  encyclopedists  to  furnish  the 
artiches  on  grammar  in  their  celebrated  undertaking.     The 
abb£  Barruel,  who  says  he  was  a  layman  much  to  be  resjiected 
for  bis  piety,  once  asked  him,  how  a  man  of  his  principles 
came  to  be  associated  with  the  encyclopedists,  who  were 
notoriously  infidels.     "  The  very  same  question,"  answered 
Beauzee,  "  have  I  put  to  d'Alembert.     At  one  of  the  sit- 
tings, seeing  that  I  was  almost  the  only  person  who  believed 
in   God,    I  asked  him  how  he  possibly  could  ever  have 
thought  of  me  for  a  member,  when  he  knew  that  my  senti- 
ments and  opinions  differed  so  widely  from  those  of  his 
brethren  ?     D'Alembert  without  hesitation  answered,  "  I 
am  sensible  of  your  amazement,  but  we  were  in  want  of  a 
skilful  grammarian,  and  among  our  party  not  one  had  ac- 
quired a  reputation  in  that  study.     We  knew  that  you  be* 
lieved  in  God,  but  being  a  good  sort  of  a  man,  we  cast  our 
eyes  on  you,   for  want  of  a  philosopher  to  supply  your 
place."     About  the  same  time,  probably,  Beauzee- pub- 
lished his  "  Gratnmaire  generate,  ou  exposition  rai&onnee 
des  eleftiens  necessaires  du  L&ngage,  pour  servir  de  fonde- 
meiit  a  Petude  de  toutes  les  Langues,"  Paris,  1767V  2  vols, 
a  work  which,  although  it  falls  short  of  its  title,  contains 
much  valuable  instruction,  especially  respecting  the  French 
language.     The  chief  fault  is,  that  the  author  wants  preci- 
sion, and  is  frequently  too  metaphysical  to  be  intelligible. 
He  published  also  a  new  edition  of  the  abb6  Girard's 
.**  Synonymes,"  with  great  additions,  2  vols.  }2mo;  trans-* 
lations  of  Sallust,  often  reprinted,    and  much  admired  ; 
ofQuintus  Curtius,  which  likewise*  became  popular ;  and 
of  Thomas  &   K'empis.      He  promoted   the  publication 
of  the  translation  of  sir  Isaac  Newton's  Optics  by  Marat, 
2  vols.   8vo,    1787,   which   is   thought   to  be  very  cor* 
rect.     The  Diet.  Hist,  mentions  another  work  by  Beauzee, 
but  without  date,  "  Exposition  abreg6e  des  preuves  his- 
torique  de  le  religion,"  12mo.* 

*  Diet.  Hist  *  Diet*  Hist.— -Barruel's  Memoirs  of  Jacobinism,  vol.  !• 


20*  B1FELE. 

.  BEBELE  (Balthazar),  a  Lutheran  divine,  was  bom 
at  Strasburg,  in  1632,  where  he  was  first  pastor  and  pro- 
fessor of  divinity  and  ecclesiastical  history,  and  afterwards 
professor  of  divinity,  pastor  and  superintendant  general 
at  Wittemberg,  where  he  died  of  an  apoplexy,  Oct; 
29  1686.  When  very  young,  he  wrote  "  Theses  Philo- 
logics  de  re  nummaria  veterum,"  and  "  Djsputationes 
Philological  de  Theologia  Gentili  ex  antiquis  nummis 
eruta,"  Wittemberg,  1658,  4to.  He  afterwards  pub- 
lished  "  Dissertatio  de  aris  et  mensis  Eucharisticis  ve- 
terum," Strasb.  1666,  4to;  "  Antiquitates  Ecclesiae,"  ibid. 
1669-^1680,  3  vols.  4to.  And  after  his  death,  appeared 
u  Ecclesia  Antediluviana  vera  et  falsa,"  ibid.  1 706.  u  Me- 
morabilia Hist  Ecclesiastic®  recentioris,"  Dresden,  1731, 
'  4to.  Witte,  in  his  Diarium,  gives  a  longer  list  of  his 
writings,  but  without  specifying  whether  they  are  col- 
lected dissertations  or  separate  volumes  ;  a  neglect  very 
common  with  tbe  biographers  of  the  sixteenth  and  seven* 
teenth  centuries. l 

BEBELE  (Henry),  a  native  of  Justingen,  in  Suabia, 
where  bis  father  was  a  labourer,  was  educated  at  home, 
and  in  1495  went  to  Cracow,  where,  and  at  Tubingen, 
he  studied  the  languages,  jurisprudence,  and  particularly 
poetry.  In  1501,  the  emperor  Maximilian  I.  honoured 
him  with  the  poetical  crown.  Before  this,  in  1497,  be 
was  professor  at  Tubingen,  and  lectured  on  the  ancient 
orators  and  historians,  and  is  said  to  have  been  the  first 
who  introduced  into  Germany  a  relish  for  the  purity  of  the 
Latin  tongue,  in  which  his  works  show  that  he  had  attained 
considerable  excellence.  His  Latin  dissertations  of  the 
historical  kind,  relating  to  Germany,  are  inserted  in  the 
first  volume  of  Scharde's  Scrip.  Rer.  Germanicarunn  It 
is  less  to  his  credit  that  he  wrote  some  tales  of  a  very  li<- 
centious  kind.  He  formed,  also,  a  collection  of  German 
proverbs,  which  with  his  poems  were  published  at  Stras- 
burgh,  in  1512,  4to,  under  the  title  "  Opuscula  Bebe- 
liapa."  A  posthumous  work  of .  bis,  "  JDe  necessitate 
linguae  Latins,"  was  published  at  Augsburgh,  in  180J, 
with  his  life  in  German,  by  Zapf,  Saxius  fixes  his  death 
in  1514.  • 

BECAN  (Martin),  an  eminent  Jesuit,  born  in  1561, 
at  Hilvarenbec,  a  small  village  of  Brabant,  entered  the 

*  Morari.— Savii  Onomasticon. 

•  JHoreri.— Diet,  Hist— Saxii  Oaomastioon.— Cave,  vol.  II* 


.      *         B  E  C  A  N.  491 

society  of  Jesuits  in  1583.     He  taught  philosophy  four 
years,  and  divinity  twenty-two  years,  at  Mentz,  Wirtz- 
burgh,  and  Vienna,  and  was  reckoned  one  of  the  ablest 
professors  of  his  time.     The  emperor  Matthias  maintained 
him  at  Vienna,  and  he  was  made  confessor  to  the  emperor 
Ferdinand  II.     The  popish  historians  say  he  was  happy  in 
a  clear  conception,  and  could  express  himself  so  intel- 
ligibly to  his  scholars,  even  upon  the  most  intricate  points, 
that  several  universities  contended  which  should  receive 
him.     He  published  a  tract  upon  scholastic  divinity,  which 
Dupin  says  is  short  and  clear,  and  has  been  much  esteemed, 
and  several  treatises  of  controversy.     He  was  the  friend 
and  follower  of  Bellarmin,  and  supported  him  in  his  con- 
troversy with  king  James  I.  and  bishop  Andrews  (see  An- 
Diikws).     It  may  supply  a  small  defect  in  bishop  Andrews** 
life,  to  note  here  that  Becan  wrote  :   1.  "  Refutatio  Apo- 
logise  et   Monitorial    prefationis   Jacobi   regis   Angliae,'* 
Mentz,  1610,  8vo.     2.  "  Refutatio  Torturae  Torti  (bishop* 
Andrews^  book.     See  his  life,  p.  219.)  ibid.   1610,   8vo; 
This  was  answered  by  Robert  Burhill,  in  "  Responsio  pro 
Tortura  Torti,   contra  M.  Becanum,"   Lond.   1611,  8vo. 
8.  "  Controversia  Anglicana  de  potestate  regis  et  pon- 
tificis,  contra  Lancelotum  Andream,"  Mentz,  1612,  8vo. 
All  Becan's  works  were  published  at  Mentz,  1630,  2  vols, 
fol. ;  and  at  Doway,  1641,  but  in  this  collection  his  "  Ana- 
logy of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,"  one  of  the  most 
esteemed  of  his  productions,  is  omitted.     He  died  at  Vi- 
enna, Jan.  24,  according  to  Dupin,  but  iii  May,, accord- 
ing to  others,  1624.     The  fate  of  his  works  has  been  some- 
what singular.     In  his  opposition  to  king  James  and  the 
bishop  of  Ely,  he  carried  the  power  of  the  pope  so  far,  H 
that  Paul  V.  was  obliged  to  have  his  book  condemned  at 
Rome,  Jan.  3,   1613 ;  and  a  century  and  a  half  after  this, 
in  1762,  the  parliament  of  Paris  ordered  the  whole  of  his 
works  to  be  burnt.1 

BECANUS  (John.)     See  BEKA. 

BECCADELLI  or  BECCATELLI  HAntony),  sur- 
named  Panormita,  from  his  native  country,  Palermo,  in 
Latin  Parwrmus,  was  born  there  in  1394,  and  at  the  age 
of  six  was  sent  to  the  university  of  Bologna,  to  study  law, 
after  which  he  was  taken  into  the  court  of  the  duke  of  Mi- 
lag,  Philip-Maria-Visconti.     He  was  afterwards  professor 

>  Dupin.— IJpdd's  C*.  History,  vol  II.—Foppc*  Bibl.  Bel*. 


J98  BECCAD  EL  LI 

of  the  belles-lettres  at  Pavia,  but  without  leaving  the  court, 
in  which  he  enjoyed  a  revenue  of  eight  hundred  crowns  of 
gold.  The  emperor  Sigismond,  when  on  a  tour  in  Loui- 
bardy  in  1432,  honoured  him  with  the  poetic  crown  at 
Parma.  Beccadelli  then  went  to  the  court  of  Naples, 
where  he  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life,  always  accom- 
panying Alphonso,  thS  king,  in  his  expeditious  and  travels, 
who  loaded  him  with  favours,  gave  him  a  beautiful  country 
house,  enrolled  him  among  the  Neapolitan  nobility,  in- 
trusted him  with  political  commissions  of  great  importance, 
and  sent  him  as  ambassador  to  Geneva,  Venice,  to  the 
emperor  Frederic  III.  and  to  some  other  princes.  And 
after  the  death  of  Alphonso,  he  was  not  less  a  favourite 
with  king  Ferdinand,  who  made  him  his  secretary,  and 
admitted  him  of  his  council.  He  died  at  Naples,  in  1471, 
While  in  the  service  of  Alphonso,  he  wrote  his  history 
u  De  dictis  et  factis  Alphonsi  regis,  lib.  IV."  Pisa,  l-f85, 
4to,  and  often  reprinted.  He  was  rewarded  by  his,  so- 
vereign with  a  thousand  crowns  of  gold  for  this  performance. 
His  five  books  of  letters,  orations,  poems,  tragedies,  &c. 
were  published  at  Venice,  1553,  4to,  under  the  title 
u  Epistolarum  lib.  V.  Orationes  II.  Carmina  praeterea 
quaedam,  &c."~  But  the  most  extraordinary  of  his  produc- 
tions was  his  "  Hermaphrodite,"  which  long  remained  in 
obscurity.  This  is  a  collection,  divided,  into  two  bopks  of 
small  poems, ^grossly  indecent,  and  yet  dedicated  to  Cosmo 
de  Medicis,  who  is  not  said  to  have  resented  the  insult. 
,What  renders  this  production  the  more  extraordinary,  is, 
that  it  was  written  when  the  author  was.  advanced  in  life, 
and  at  a  time  when  his  character  seemed  to  derive  dignity 
from  the  honourable  employments  he  held,  and  his  repu- 
tation in  the  learned  world.  Of  this  work,  written,,  with 
great  purity  of  Latin  style,  some  copies  got  abroad,  and 
excited  the  just  indignation  of  the.  age.  Filelfo  and,  Lau- 
ren tius  Valla  attacked  it  in  their  writings;  the  clergy 
preached  against  it,  and  caused  it  to  be  burnt;  and  the 
author  was  burnt  in  effigy  at  Ferrara  and  Milan,  Valla 
even  goes  so  far  as  to  wish  that  he  had  been  burnt  in  per- 
son. Even  Poggio,  not  the  most  chaste  of  Italian  writers, 
reproached  his  friend  with  having  gone  too  far.  Becca- 
delli defended  himself  by  the  example  of  the  ancients,  and 
Guarino  of  Verona  quotes  the  example  of  St.  Jerome,  but 
sense  and  decency  went  against  them,,  and  these  poems 
were  confined  to  the  Laurentian  library  strictly,  as  Mr. 


BBQCADEILI.  29* 

B.oscoe;  says,  but  surely  a  more  certain  method  might.have 
been  devised  to  consign  them  to  perpetual  oblivion.  A  copy, 
however,  was  by  some  means  preserved,  and  printed  at 
Paris  in  1791,  when  the  revolution  had  brought  on  a  ge- 
neral dissolution  of  morals  and  public  decency,.  "  The 
editor,"  says  Giuguen6,  <?  no  doubt  thought,  that  our 
morals  were  so  confirmed  as  to  have  nothing  to  fear,  and 
the  book  is  now  in  every  shop-"1 

,    BECCADELL1  (Lewis),  was  born  at  Bologna  in  1502, 
of  a  noble  family.     Having  gone  through  a  course  of  study 
at  Padua,  he  applied  himself  to  business,  without  how- 
ever entirely  quitting  literature..    He  attached  himself  to 
cardinal  Pole,  whom  he  followed  in  the  legation  to  Spain, 
and  was  soon  appointed  himself  to  those  of  Venice  and 
Augsburg,  after  having  assisted  at  the  council  of  Trent, 
and  the  archbishopric  of  Ragusa  was  the  reward  of  his  la- 
bours,     Cosmo  I.  grand   duke  of  Tuscany,    having  en- 
trusted him  in  1563  with  the  education  of  his  son,,  prince 
Ferdinand,  he  gave  up  his  archbishopric,  in  the  hope  that 
was  held  out  to  hira  of-  obtaining  that  of  Pisa  ;  but,  being 
deceived  in  his  expectations,  he  was  obliged  to  content 
himself  with  the  provostship  of  the  cathedral  of  Prato, 
where  he  ended  his  days  in  1572.     His  principal  works 
are:  "  The  life  of  cardinal  Pole,"  in  Italian,  translated 
by  Duditius  into    Latin,    and   thenqe  by  Maucroix  into 
French;  and  that  of  Petrarch,  in  Italian,  more  exact  than 
any  that  had  appeared  before-     This  prelate  was  in  cor- 
respondence with  almost  all  the  learned,  his  contemporaries, 
Sadolet,  Benibo,  the  Manuciuses,  Varehi,  &c.     It  remains 
to  be  noticed  that  his  life  of  cardinal  Pole  was  published 
in  1766,  in  English,  by  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Pye,  LL.B« 
Of  this,  and  other  lives  of  that  celebrated  cardinal,  notice 
will  be  taken  in  his  article.  * 

BECCAFUMI.  See  MECHAR1NO. 
BECCAWA  (Bonesana  Makuuis  Cesar),  a  political 
writer  of  considerable  note,  was  born  at  Milan  in  1735, 
and  diedin.  the  same  place  in  1 793  or  1794.  In  his  first 
publication,  which  appeared  at  Lucca  in  1762,  be  pointed 
out  several  abuses,  with  their  remedies,  in  the  system  of 
coinage  adopted  in  the  state  of  Milan.  A  short  time  after, 
some  literary  gentlemen  of  Milan  projected  a  periodical 

*  Gmgnene  Hist.  Litt  d'ltalie,  vol.  III. — Roscoe's  Lorenzo,- — DicU  Hist.— <• 
Sax  it  Ouomasticon. 

*  Diet.  Hitt.— Saxii  Ouoma6ti#m«--Pye't  Preface  to  the  English  translation. 


$00  B  E  C  C  A  R  I  A. 

work,  which  was  to  contain  essays  on  various  subjects  of 
philosophy,  morals,  and  politics,  calculated  to  enlighten 
the  public  mind.  It  was  accordingly  published  in  the 
years  1764  and  1765,  under  the  title  of  <«  The  Coffee- 
bouse,"  and  when  collected,  the  papers  formed  2  vols. 
4to,  of  which  the  most  interesting  and  original  were  from 
the  pen  of  Beccaria.  It  was  likewise  in  1764,  that  her 
published  his  celebrated  treatise  on  "  crimes  and  punish* 
merits,**  "  Dei  Delitti  e  delle  Pene,"  12mo,  a  work  to 
which  some  objections  may  be  made,  and  in  which  ther$ 
are  some  inconsistencies,  yet  few  works  were  read  with 
more  avidity,  or  more  directly  tended  to  introduce  a  hu- 
mane and  wise  system  in  the  criminal  law.  .  Within  eighteen 
months  of  its  publication,  six  editions  of  the  Italian  were 
eagerly  bought  up,  and  it  is  computed  that  it  has  since 
gone  through  above  fifty  editions  and  translations.  The 
English  translation  published  in  1766  contained  also  a 
commentary  attributed  to  Voltaire,  but  contributing  more 
to  amuse  than  instruct  the  reader.  Much,  however,  as 
the  author  was  applauded  by  the  enlightened  part  of  the 
world,  he  was  likely  to  have  been  brought  into  trouble 
by  the  bigotry  of  his  countrymen,  had  he  not  met  with 
very  powerful  protection.  In  1768  the  Austrian  govern-* 
ment  founded  a  professorship  of  political  economy  for  him, 
and  his  lectures  on  that  subject  were  published  in  1804, 
2  vols.  Svo,  under  the  title  of  "  Elemens  d'economie  pub- 
lique."  In  1770  he  published  the  first  part  of  his  "  Re- 
cherches  sur  la  nature  du  style,*'  Milan,  Svo.  There  are 
some  shrewd  remarks  in  this,  but  he  appears  to  have  got 
into  the  paradoxical  way  of  writing,  and  endeavours  to 
prove  that  every  individual  has  an  equal  degree  of  genius 
for  poetry  and  eloquence.1 

BECCARIA  (James  Bartholomew),  a  very  eminent 
physician,  was  born  in  1682  at  Bononia.  He  received  "the 
first  rudiments  of  education  among  the  Jesuits.  He  then 
proceeded  to  the  study  of  philosophy,  in  which  he  made 
great  progress ;  but  cultivated  that  branch  of  it  particu- 
larly which  consists  in  the  contemplation  and  investigation 
of  nature.  Having  gone  through  a  course  of  philosophy 
and  mathematics,  he  applied  himself  to  medicine.  Being 
appointed  teacher  of  natural  philosophy  at  an  academy  in 
Bononia,  in  consequence  of  his  ardent  pursuits  in  philo- 

i  Diet.  Hi«t 


BECCARIA,  301 

spphy,  his  fellow  citizens  conferred  on  him  the  office  of 
public  professor.  His  first  step  in  this  chair  was  the  in- 
terpretation of  the  Dialectics.  He  kept  his  house  open 
to  students,  who  found  there  a  kind  of  philosophical  so- 
ciety* Here  it  was  his  practice  to  deliver  his  sentiments 
on  the  different  branches  of  science,  or  to  explain  such 
metaphysical  subjects  as  had  been  treated  of  by  Des- 
cartes, Malebranche,  Leibnitz,  and  others  of  the  moderns. 
Among  the  frequenters  of  this  little  society  we  find  the 
names  of  John  Baptist  Morgagni,  Eustathius  Manfred,  and 
Victorius  Franciscus  Stancarius,  who,  in  concurrence  with 
Beccaria,  succeeded  in  shaking  oft  the  old  scholastic  yoke, 
and  formed  themselves  into  an  academy,  adopting  a  new 
and  more  useful  method  of  reasoning.  In  this  institution 
it  was  thought  fit  to  elect  twelve  of  their  body,  who  were 
called  ordinarii,  to  read  the  several  lectures  tn  natural  his- 
tory, chemistry,  anatomy,  medicine,  physics,  and  ma-* 
thematics,  in  which  partition  the  illustration  of  natural 
history  fell  to  the  share  of  Betccaria ;  who  gave  such  sa- 
tisfaction, that  it  was  difficult  to  determine  which  was  most 
admired,  his  diligence  or  bis  ingenuity.  In  1712  he  was 
called  to  give  lectures  in  medicine,  in  which  he  acquired 
so  great  a  reputation,  that  he  found  it  scarcely  practicable 
to  answer  the  desires  of  the  incredible  number  of  those 
who  applied  to  him  for  instruction.  At  the  beginning  of 
the  year  1718,  while  entirely  occupied  in  this  station,  and 
in  collecting  numberless  anatomical  subjects  to  exhibit 
and  to  explain  to  his  auditors,  he  was  attacked  by  a  putrid 
fever,'  which  brought  his  life  in  imminent  danger,  and 
from  which  he  did  not  recover  till  after  a  confinement  of 
eight  months  ;  and  even  then  it  left  him  subject  to  inter- 
mitting attacks,  and  a  violent  pain  in  his  side.  But  the 
vigour  of  his  mind  triumphed  over  the  weakness  of  his 
body.  Having  undertaken  to  demonstrate  and  explain  his 
anatomical  preparations,  he  would  not  desist;  and  went 
on  patiently  instructing  the  students  that  frequented  his 
house.  On  the  death  of  Antonio  Maria  Valsalva,  who  was 
president  of  the  institution,  Beccaria,  already  vice-presi- 
dent, was  unanimously  chosen  by  the  academicians  to  suc- 
ceed him,  in  which  post  he  did  the  academy  much  signal 
service  ;  and  to  this  day  it  adheres  to  the  rule's  prescribed 
by  Beccaria.  He  now  practised  as  well  as  taught  the  art 
of  medicine,  and  in  this  he  acquired  an  unbounded  fame  ; 
for  it  was  not  confined  to  his  own  countrymen,  but  was 


\ 


302  beccAri  a. 

spread  throughout  Europe.  He  communicated!  to  ther 
royal  society  of  London  several  barometrical  and  meteo- 
rological observations ;  with  others  on  the  ignis  fatuus, 
and  on  the  spots  that  appear  in  stones,  and  in  acknow- 
ledgement he  was  chosen  a  member  of  that  learned  body 
in  1728.  He  confesses  that  in  his  constitution  he  was  not 
without  some  igneous  sparks,  which  were  easily  kindled 
into  anger  and  other  vehement  emotions  ;  yet  he  was  re- 
solved to  evince  by  example  what  he  had  constantly  taught, 
that  the  medicine  of  the  mind  is  more  to  be  studied  than 
that  of  the  body ;  and  that  they  are  truly  wise  and  happy 
who  have  learut  to  heal  their  distorted  and  bad  affections* 
He  had  brought  himself  to  such  an  equal  temper  of  mind, 
that  but  a  few  hours  before  his  death  he  wanted  to  mark 
the  heights  of  the  barometer  and  thermometer,  which  was 
his  usual  practice  three  times  every  day.  Thus,  after 
many  and  various  labours,  died  this  learned  and  ingenious 
man,  the  30th  of  Jan.  1766,  and  was  buried  in  the  church 
of  St.  Maria  ad  Baracanum,  where  an  inscription  is  carved 
on  his  monument.  He  published  the  following  works : 
1.  "  Lettere  al  cavaliere  Tommaso  Derham,  intorno  la 
meteora  chiamata  fuoco  fatuo.  Edita  primum  in  sdcietatis 
Lond.  transact."  1720.  2.  "  Dtssertatio  metheorologica- 
medica,  in  qua  aeris  temperies  et  morbi  Bononioe  gras- 
santes  annis  1729,  et  sequent!  describe  ntur."  3.  "Parere 
intorno  al  taglio  della  macchia  di  Viareggio,"  Lucca,  1739, 
4to.  4.  u  De  longis  jejuniis  dissertatio."  Patavii,  1743, 
fol.  5.  «  De  quamplurimis  phosphoris  nunc  primum  de- 
tectis  commentarius,"  Bononiae,"  1744,  4to.  6.  u  De 
quamplurim.  &c.  commentarius  alter."  7.  "  De  motu 
intestino  corporum  fluidorum."  8.  "  De  medicatis  Re*- 
cobarii  aquis."  9.  "  De  lacte."  10.  "  Epistolae  tres 
medical  ad  Franciscum  Roncalium  Parolinum,"  Brixiac, 
1747,  fol.  11.  "  Scriptura  medico-legalis,"  1749;  and 
some  others.     He  left  behind  him  several  manuscripts.  * 

BECCARIA  (John  Baptist),  a  monk  of  the  Ecoles- 
Pies,  or  Pious  Schools,  was  born  at  Mondovi,  and  died  at 
Turin,  May  22,  1781.  He  was  professor  of  mathematics 
and  philosophy,  first  at  Palermo,  then  at  Rome ;  and  by 
his  experiments  and  discoveries  was  so  successful  as  to 
throw  great  light  on  natural  knowledge,  and  especially  on 
that  of  electricity.  He  was  afterwards  called  to  Turin  to 
take  upon  him  the  professorship  of  experimental  philoso- 

5  Fabroqi  vit»  lulorum  toI.  V.— Diet.  Hist. 


BECCARIA.  $03 

phy.  Being  appointed  preceptor  to  the  two  princes,  Be- 
nedict dnke  of  Chablais,  and  Victor  Amadseus  duke  ofCa- 
lignan,  neither  the  life  of  a  court,  nor  the  allurements  of 
pleasure,  were  ahle  to  draw  him  aside  from  study.  Loaded 
with  benefits  and  honours,  he  spared  nothing  to  augment 
his  library,  and  to  procure  the  instruments  necessary  for 
his  philosophical  pursuits.  His  dissertations  on  electricity 
would  have  been  more  useful,  if  h6  had  been  less  strongly 
attached  to  some  particular  systems,  and  especially  that  of 
Mr.  Franklin.  He  published,  1.  "  Experimenta  quibus 
Electricitas  Vindex  late  constituitur,  &c."  Turin,  1771,  4to. 
2.  "  Electricismo  artificiale,"  1772,  4to,  an  English  transla- 
tion of  which  was  published  at  Lond.  1776,  4to.  We  have 
also  by  him,  an  "  Essay  on  the  cause  of  Storms  and  Tem- 
pests," where  we  meet  with  nothing  more  satisfactory  than 
what  has  appeared  in  other  works  on  that  subject ;  several 
pieces  on  the  meridian  of  Turin,  and  other  objects  of  astro- 
nomy and  physics.  Father  Beccaria  was  no  less  respecta- 
ble for  bis  virtues  than  his  knowledge.  * 

BECHER  (John  Joachim),  born  in  1645,  at  Spires,  was 
at  first  professor  of  medicine,  and  then  first  physician  to 
the  elector  of  Mentz,  and  afterwards  to  him  of  Bavaria. 
He  went  to  London,  where  his  reputation  had  got  before 
him,  and  where  the  malice  of  his  rivals  had  forced  him  to 
seek  an  asylum,  and  here  he  died  in  1685.  His  works  are 
various,  among  which  we  may  distinguish  the  following : 
1.  "  Physica  subterranea,"  Frankfort,  1669,  8vo,  reprinted 
at  Leipsic,  1703,  and  in  1759,  8vo.  2.  "  Experimentum 
Chymicum  novum,"  Frankfort,  1671,  8vo.  3.  "  Charac- 
ter pro  notitia  linguarum  universali ;"  a  universal  lan- 
guage, by  means  whereof  all  nations  might  easily  under- 
stand each  other  ;  the  fanciful  idea  of  a  man  pf  genius.  4. 
"InstitutionesChymicse,  seu  manuductio  ad  philosophiam 
hermeticam,"  Mentz,  1662,  8vo.  5.  "  Institutiones  Chy- 
micae  prodrome?,"  Frankfort,  1664,  and  Amsterdam,  1665, 
I2mo.  6.  "  Experimentum  novum  ac  curiosum  de  Minera 
frrenaria  perpetuil,"  Frankfort,  1680,  8vo.  7.  "  Epistolse 
Chymicee,"  Amsterdam,  1673,  8vo.  Becher  was  reputed 
to  be  a  very  able  machinist  and  a  good  chymist.  He  was 
ft  man  of  a  lively  temper,  impetuous  and  headstrong,  and 
therefore  indulged  in  a  thousand  chymical  reveries.  He 
was  the  first  who  applied  the  art  of  xhymistry,  in  all  its 

*  Diet  Hist. 


*o*  .   BECHEH 

extent,  to  philosophy,  and  shewed  what  use  might  ha 
made  of  it  in  explaining  the  structure,  the  combinations, 
and  the  mutual  relations  of  bodies,  .  He  pretended  to  hava 
found  out  a  sort  of  perpetual  motion.  However,  it  is  be* 
yond  a  doubt  that  the  world  is  indebted  to  him  for  some 
useful  discoveries,  and  he  attempted  to  make  some  im- 
provements in  the  art  of  printing.  * 

BECKER  (Daniel)  was  born  at  Konigsbergin  1621,  the 
son  of  a  father  of  the  same  names,  who  was  doctor  and  pro- 
fessor of  medicine,  and  first  physician  to  the  elector  of 
Brandenburgh.  He  also  followed  his  father's  profession, 
and  took  his  doctor's  degree  at  Strasburgh  in  1 652.  Next 
year  he  was  appointed  public  professor  at  Konigsberg,  and 
in  1663  the  elector  of  Brandenburgh  admitted  him  a  coun- 
sellor, and  to  be  his  first  physician.  He  died  at  Konigs- 
berg in  1673,  almost  in  the  prime  of  life.  His  works  were, 
1.  "  Medicus  Microcosmus,"  Rostock,  Leyden,  and  Lond. 
.1660.  2.  "  De  Cultrivoro  Prussiaco,"  Konigsberg,  1636, 
Leyden,  1638.  3.  "  Hist*  morbi  academici  Regiomon- 
tani,"  Leyden,  1649.  4.  "  De  unguento  armario,"  in  the 
"Theatrum  Sympatheticum,"  Nuremberg,  1662.  5.  "Cpm* 
mentarius  de  Theriaca,"  Konigsberg,  1649.* 

BECKET  (Thomas),  archbishop  of  Canterbury  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  1L  was  born  in  London  1119,  the  son  of 
Gilbert,  a  merchant,  and  Matilda,  a  Saracen  lady,  who 
is  said  to  have  fallen  in  love  with  him,  when  he  was  a 
prisoner  to  her  father  in  Jerusalem.  Thomas  received  the 
first  part  of  his  education  at  Merton-abbey  in  Surrey, 
whence  he  went  to  Oxford,  and  afterwards  studied  at  Paris, 
fie  became  in  high  favour  with  Theobald  archbishop  of 
.Canterbury,  who  sent  him  to  study  the  civil  law  at  Bononia 
in  Italy,  and  at  his  return  made  him  archdeacon  of  Can- 
terbury, and  provost  of  Beverley.  Before  this  he  had  dis- 
covered such  superior  talents  for  negociation,  that  arch- 
bishop Theobald  dispatched  him  as  his  agent  to  the  pope, 
on  a  point  he  thought  of  great  moment,  which  was  to  get 
the  legantine  power  restored  to  the  see  of  Canterbury.  'This 
commission  was  performed  with  such  dexterity  and  suc- 
cess, that  the  archbishop  entrusted  to  him  all  his  most  se- 
cret intrigues  with  the  court  of  Rome,  and  particularly  a 
matter  of  the  highest  importance  to  England,  the  soliciting 

>  Moreri.— Mapget.— Halle*— Diet  Hist     -      *  Manget  and  Moreri. 


BECKET;  305 

from  the  pope  thdse  prohibitory  letters  against  the  crown- 
ing of  prince  Eustace,  by  which  that  design  was  defeated. 
This  service,  which  raised  Becket's  merit  not  only  with  the 
prelate  by  whom  he  was  employed,  but  also  with  king 
Henry,  was  the  original  foundation  of  bis  high  fortune.  It 
is  remarkable,  that  be  was  the  first  Englishman,  since  the 
latter  years  of  the  reign  of  William  the  Conqueror,  oil 
whom  any  great  office,  either  in  church  or  state,  had  been 
conferred  by  the  kings  of  the  Norman  race ;  the  exclusion 
of  the  English  from  all  dignities  having  been  a  maxim  o{ 
policy,  which  had  been  delivered  down  by  that  monarch 
to  his  sons.  This  maxim  Henry  the  Second  wisely  and 
liberally  discarded,  though  the  first  instance  in  which  he 
deviated  from  it  happened  to  be  singularly  unfortunate. 

Theobald  also  recommended  him  to  king  Henry  II.  in  so 
effectual- a  manner,  that  in  1158  he  was  appointed  high 
chancellor,  and  preceptor  to  the  prince.  Becket  now  laid 
aside  the  churchman,  and  affected  the  courtier ;  he  con* 
formed  himself  in  every  thing  to  the  king's  humour ;  ha 
partook  of  all  his  diversions,  and  observed  the  same  hours 
of  eating  and  going  to  bed.  He  kept  splendid  levees,  and 
Courted  popular  applause ;  and  the  expences  of  his  table 
exceeded  those  of  the  first  nobility.  In  1 159  he  made  a 
campaign  with  king  Henry  into  Toulouse,  having  in  hid 
own  pay  1 200  horse,  besides  a  retinue  of  700  knights  or 
gentlemen.  While  here  he  gave  a  piece  of  advice  which 
marked  the  spirit  and  fire  of  his  character.  This  was,  to 
seize  the  person  of  Lewis,  king  of  France,  who  had  im- 
prudently thrown  himself  into  the  city  of  Toulouse  without 
an  army.  But  the  counsel  was  deemed  too  bold.  Be- 
sides several  political  reasons  against  complying  with  it,  it 
was  thought  an  enormous  and  criminal  violation  of  the 
feudal  allegiance,  for  a  vassal  to  take  and  hold  in  captivity 
the  person  of  his  lord.  We  need  not  inform  our  historical 
readers,  that  Henry,  though  a  very'  powerful  monarch, 
did,  by  the  large  possessions  he  held  in.  France,  stand  in 
the  relation  of  a  vassal  to  the  king  of  that  country.  In  the 
war  against  the  earl  of  Toulouse,  Becket,  besides  his  other 
military  exploits,  engaged,  in  single  combat,  Engelvan 
de  Trie,  a  French  knight,  famous  for  his  valour,  dismounted 
him  with  his  lance,  and  gained  his  horse,  which  he  led  oft 
in  great  triumph. 

In  1 160,  he  was  sent  by  the  king  to  Paris,  to  treat  of  a 
itiarriage  between  prince  Henry  and  the,  king  of  France's 

Voj..  IV.  X 


i 


305  'BECKET, 

eldest  daughter,  in  which  he  succeeded,  and  returned  with 
the  young  princess  to  England.  He  had  not  enjoyed  the 
chancellorship  above  four  years,  when  archbishop  Theo- 
bald died ;  and  the  king,  who  was  then  in  Normandy,  im- 
tnediately  sent  over  some  trusty  persons  to  England,  who 
managed  matters  so  well  with  the  monks  and  clergy,  that 
Becket  was  almost  unanimously  elected  archbishop. 

It  has  been  said  that  it  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty 
Becket  could  be  prevailed  upon  to  accept  of  this  dignity, 
and  that  he  even  predicted  it  would  be  the  cause  of  a 
breach  between  the  king  and  him.  But  this  is  greatly 
doubted  by  lord  Lyttelton  in  his  History  of  Henry  II.  and 
it  stands  contradicted  by  the  affirmation  of  Foliot,  bishop 
of  London,  and  ill  agrees  with  the  measures  which  were 
taken  to  procure  Becket's  election.  His  biographers  them- 
selves acknowledge,  that  one  reason  which  induced  Henry 
to  promote  him  to  Canterbury,  was,  "  because  he  hoped, 
that,  by  his  means,  he  should  manage  ecclesiastical,  as 
well  as  secular  affairs,  to  his  own  satisfaction.97  Indeed, 
no  other  reasonable  motive  can  be  found.  Nothing  could 
incline  that  prince  to  make  so  extraordinary  and  so  excep- 
tionable a  choice,  but  a  firm  confidence,  that  he  should  be 
most  usefully  assisted  by  Becket,  in  the  important  re- 
formation he  meant  to  undertake,  of  subjecting  the  clergy 
to  the  authority  of  the  civil  government.  Nor  is  it  credible 
that  he  should  not  have  revealed  his  intention,  concerning 
that  affair,  to  a  favourite  minister,  whom  he  had  accus- 
tomed to  trust,  without  reserve,  in  his  most  secret  counsels,. 
But  if  such  a  declaration  had  been  made  by  that  minister, 
as  is  related  by  .the.  historians,  it  is  scarcely  to  be  supposed, 
that  a  king  so  prudent  as  Henry  would  have  forced  him  into 
a  station,  in  which  he  certainly  might  have  it  in  his  power 
to  be  exceedingly  troublesome,  instead  of  being  serviceable 
to  his  royal  master.  It  was  by  a  different  language  that  the 
usual  sagacity  of  this  prince  could  have  been  deceived.. 
Nor,  indeed,  could  the  most  jealous  and  penetrating  ey<* 
have  discovered  in  Becket,  after  he  was  elected  archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  any  marks  of  an  enthusiastic  or  bigotted 
zeal.  That  several  indications  of  a  contrary  temper,  and 
different  principles,  had  appeared  in  his  conduct,  is  shewn 
by  lord  Lyttelton,  who  produces  two  remarkable  instances 
in  support  of  his  assertion.     The  same  noble  writer  hath  I 

brought,  likewise,  satisfactory  evidence,  to  prove  that 
Becket  .was  almost  as  eager  for  procuring  the  archbishopric, 


B  ECK  E  T.  307 

as  his  master  could  be  to  raise  him  to  that  dignity. 
After  he  ha<J  received  his  pall  from  pope  Alexander  III. 
then  residing  in  France,  he  immediately  sent  messengers 
to  the  king  in  Normandy,  with  his  resignation  of  the  seal 
and  office  of  chancellor.  This  displeased  the  king ;  so  that 
upon  his  return  to  England,  when  he  was  met  at  his  land- 
ing by  the  archbishop,  he  received  him  in  a  cold  and  in- 
different xfranner. 

Becket  now  betook  himself  to  a  quite  different  manner 
of  life,  and  put  on  all  the  gravity  and  austerity  of  a  monk. 
.He  began  likewise  to  exert  himself  with  great  zeal,  in  de- 
fence of  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  church  of  Canter- 
bury ;  and  in  many  cases  proceeded  with  so  much  warmth 
and  obstinacy,  as  raised  him  many  enemies.  Pope  Alex- 
ander III.  held  a  general  council  of  his  prelates  at  Tours  in 
April  1163,  at  which  Becket  was  present,  and  was  probably 
animated  by  the  pope  in  his  design  of  becomingthe  cham- 
pion for  the  liberties  of  the  church  and  the  immunities  of 
the  clergy.  It  is  certain  that  on  his  return  he  prosecuted 
this  design  with  such  zeal  that  the  king  and  he  came  to  an 
open  rupture :  Henry  endeavoured  to  recall  certain  pri- 
vileges of  the  clergy,  who  had  greatly  abused  their  exemp- 
tion frbm  the  civil  courts,  concerning  which  the  king  had 
received  several  complaints;  while  the  archbishop  stood 
up  for  the  immunities  of  the  clergy.  The  king  convened 
a  synod  of  the  bishops  at  Westminster,  and  here  demanded 
that  the  clergy,  when  accused  of  xany  capital  offence,  might 
take  their  trials  in  the  usual  courts  of  justice.  The  question 
put  to  the  bishops  was,  Whether,  in  consideration  of  their 
duty  and  allegiance  to  the  king,  and  of  the  interest  and 
peace  of  the  kingdom,  they  were  willing  to  promise  a  sub* 
mission  to  the  laws  of  his  grandfather,  king  Henry  ?  To 
this  the  arbhhishop  replied,  in  the  name  of  the  whole  body, 
that  they  wer£  willing  to  be  bound  by  the  ancient  laws  of 
the  kingdom,  as  far  as  the  privileges  of  the  order  would 
permit,  salvo  online  suo.  The  king  was  highly  displeased 
with  this  answer,  and  insisted  on  having  an  absolute  com- 
pliance, without  any  reservation  whatever ;  but  the  arch* 
bishop  would  by  no  means  submit,  and  the  rest  of  the 
bishops  adhered  for  some  time  to  their  primate.  Several 
of  the  bishops  being  at  length  gained  over,  and  the  pope 
interposing  in  the  quarrel,  Becket  was  prevailed  on  to  ac- 
qutesee ;  .and  soon  after  the  king  summoned  a  convention 
or  parliament  at  Clarendon,  in  US4>  where  several  law* 

x  2 


308  BECKET. 

were  passed  relating  to  the  privileges  of  the  clergy,  <&ll£& 
from  thence,  the  Constitutions  of  Clarendon.  But  before 
the  meeting  of  this  assembly,  Becket  had  again  changed 
his  mind,  and  when  he  appeared  before  the  council,  he 
obstinately  refused  to  obey  the  laws  as  he  had  before  agreed. 
This  equally  disappointed  and  enraged  the  king,  and  it  was 
not  until  after  some  days  debate,  and  the  personal  en* 
treaties,  and  even  tears,  of  some  of  his  particular  friends, 
that  Becket  was  again  softened,  and  appearing  before  the 
council,  solemnly  promised  and  swore,  in  the  words  of 
truth  and  without  any  reserve,  to  obey  all  the  royal  laws 
and  customs  which  had  been  established  in  England  in  the 
reign  of  his  majesty's  grandfather  Henry  L  The  constitu- 
tions of  Clarendon  were  then  put  in  writing,  read  in  the 
council,  and  one  copy  of  them  delivered  to  the  primate, 
another  to  the  archbishop  of  York,  and  a  third  deposited 
among  the  records  of  the  kingdom.  By  them  ecclesiastics 
of  all  denominations  were  reduced  to  a  due  subjection  to 
the  laws  of  their  country;  they  also  limited  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  spiritual  courts,  guarded  against  appeals  to  Rome, 
and  the  pronouncing  of  interdicts  and  excommunications, 
without  the  consent  of  the  king  or  his  judiciary. 

As  it  was  with  visible  reluctance  that  Becket  bad  sworn 
to  obey  these  constitutions,  he  soon  began  to  give  indica- 
tions of  his  repentance,  by  extraordinary  acts  of  mortifi- 
cation, and  by  refraining  from  performing  the  sacred  of- 
fices of  his  function.  He  also  dispatched  a  special  mes- 
senger, with  an  account  of  what  had  happened,  to  the 
pope,  who  sent  him  a  bull,  releasing  him  from  the  obli- 
gation of  his  oath,  and  enjoining  him  to  resume  the  duties 
of  his  sacred  office.  But  though  this  bull  reconciled  his 
conscience  to  the  breach  of  his  oath,  it  did  not  dispel  bis 
fears  of  the  royal  indignation,  to  avoid  which  he  determined 
to  retire  privately  out  of  the  kingdom.  Accordingly  he  went 
nboard  a  ship,  in  order  to  make  his  escape  beyond  sea ;  but 
before  he  could  reach  the  coast  of  France,  the  wind  shifting 
about,  he  was  driven  back. to  England,  and,  conscious  that 
he  had  done  amiss,  he  waited  upon  the  king  at  Woodstock, 
who  received  him  without  any  other  expression  of  displea- 
sure than  asking  him  if  he  had  left  England  because  he 
thought  it  too  little  to  contain  both  ?  Notwithstanding  the 
mildness  of  this  rebuke,  Becket  persisted  insetting  the  cler- 
gy above  the  laws ;  and  therefore  the  king  summoned  a  par- 
Lament  at  Northampton,  U65,  where  the  archbishop  bar- 


BECKET.  30* 

fag  been  accused  of  failure  of  duty  and  allegiance  to  the 
king,  was  sentenced  to  forfeit  all  his  goods  and  chattels? 
Becket  made  an  appeal  to  the  pope  ;  but  this  having  availed 
nothing,  and  finding  himself  deserted  by  his  brethren,  he 
withdrew  privately  from  Northampton,  and  went  aboard  a 
ship  for  Graveline  in  Holland,  from  whence  he  retired  to 
the  monastery  of  St.  Bertin  in  Flanders. 

The  king  seized  upon  the  revenues  of  the  archbishopric, 
and  sent  an  ambassador  to  the  French  king,  desiring  him 
not  to  give  shelter  to  Becket :  but  the  French  court  es- 
poused his  cause,  in  hopes  that  the  misunderstanding  be- 
twixt him  and  Henry  might  embarrass  the  affairs  of  Eng- 
land ;  and  accordingly  when  Becket  came  from  St  Bertin 
to  Soissons,  the  French  king  paid  him  a  visit,  and  offered, 
him  his  protection.     Soon  after  the  archbishop  went  to 
Sens ;  where  he  was  honourably  received  by  the  pope,  into 
whose  hands  he  in  form  resigned  the  archbishopric  of  Can- 
terbury, and  was  presently  re-instated  in  his  dignity  by  the 
pope,  who  promised  to  espouse  his  interest.     The  arch- 
bishop removed  from  Sens  to  the  abbey  of  Pontigny  in 
Normandy,  from  whence  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  bishops 
of  England,  informing  them,  that  the  pope  had  annulled 
the  Constitutions  of  Clarendon.     From  hence  too  he  issued 
out  excommunications  against  several  persons,  who  bad 
violated  the  rights  of  the  church.    This  conduct  of  his 
raised  him  many  enemies.    The  king  was  so   enraged 
against  him  for  excommunicating  several  of  his  officers  of 
state,  that  he  banished  all  Becket's  relations,  and  com- 
peted them  to  take  an  oath,  that  they  would  travel  directly 
to  Pontigny,  and  shew  themselves  to  the  archbishop.     An 
order  was  likewise  published,  forbidding  all  persons  to 
correspond  with  him  by  letters,  to  send  him  any  money,  or 
so  much  as  to  pray  for  him  in  the  churches.    He  wrote  also 
to  the  general  chapter  of  the  Cistertians,  threatening  to 
sjeizp  all  their  estates  in  England,  if  they  allowed  Becket 
to  continue  in  the  abbey  of  Pontigny.     The  archbishop 
thereupon  removed  to  Sens ;  and  from  thence,  upon  the 
king  of  France's  recommendation,  to  the  abbey  of  St,  Co- 
lumba,  where  he  remained  four  years.     In  the  mean  time, 
the  bishops  of  the  province  of  Canterbury  wrote  a  letter  to 
the  archbishop,  entreating  him  to  alter  his  behaviour,  and 
not  to  .widen'  the  breach,  so  as  to  render  an  accommodation 
impracticable  betwixt  him  and  the  king.     This,  however, 
h^d  no  effect  on  the  archbishop.    The  pope  also^eut  two 


*  10  BECKE  T. 

cardinals  to  try  to  reconcile  matters ;  but  the  legates  find- 
ing both  parties  inflexible,  gave  over  the  attempt,  and  re- 
turned to  Rome, 

.  The  beginning  of  1 167,  Becket  was  at  length  so  far  pre* 
vailed  upon  as  to  have  an  interview  with  Henry  and  the 
king  of  France,  at  Mont-MiraJ  in  Champaigne.  He  made 
a  speech  to  tienry  in  very  submissive  terms ;  and  concluded 
with  leaving  him  the  umpire  of  the  difference  between 
them,  saving  the  honour  of  God.  Henry  was  provoked  at 
this  clause  of  reservation,  and  said,  that  whatever  Becket 
did  nqt  relish,  he  would  pronounce  contrary  to  the  honour 
of  God.  "  However,"  added  the  king,  "  to  shew  my  in- 
clination to  accommodate  matters,  I  will  make  him  this 
{proposition  :  I  have  had  many  predecessors,  kings  of  Eng- 
?uid,  some  greater  and  some  inferior  to  myself;  there  have 
been  likewise  many  >great  and  holy  men  in  the  see  of  Can- 
terbury. Let  Becket  therefore  but  pay  me  the  same  re- 
gard, and  own  my  authority  so  far,  as  the  greatest  of  his 
predecessors  owned  that  of  the  least  of  mine,  and  I  am 
satisfied.  And,  as  I  never  forced  him  out  of  England,  I 
give  him  leave  to  return  at  his  pleasure ;  and  am  willing  he 
should  enjoy  his  archbishopric,  with  as  ample  privileges  as 
any  of  his  predecessors."  All  who  were  present  declared 
that  Henry  had  shewn  sufficient  condescension.  The  king' 
of  France,  surprised  at  the  archbishop's  silence,  asked  bim 
why  he  hesitated  to  accept  such  reasonable  conditions  ? 
Becket  replied,  he  was  willing  to  receive  his  see  upon  the 
terms  his  predecessors  held  it ;  but  as  for  those  customs* 
which  broke  in  upon  the  canons,  he  could  not  admit  them; 
for  he  looked  upon  this  as  betraying  the  cause  of  religion. 
And  thus  the  interview  ended  without  any  effect. 

In  1169,  endeavours  were  again  used  to  accommodate 
matters,  but  they  proved  ineffectual.  The  archbishop  re- 
fused to  comply,  because  Henry  would  not  give  him  the 
customary  salute,  or  kiss  of  peace,  which  bis  majesty  would 
have  granted,  had  he  not  once  swore  in  a  passion  never  to  * 
salute  the  archbishop  on  the  cheek ;  but  he  declared  that  he 
would  hear  him  no  ill  will  for  the  omission  of  this  ceremony. 
Henry  became  at  length  so  irritated  against  this  prelate, 
that  he  ordered  all  his  English  subjects  to  take  an  oath, 
whereby  they  renounced  the  authority  of  Becket  and  pope- 
Alexander :  most  of  the  laity  complied  with  this  order,  but 
few  of  the  clergy  acquiesced.  The  foll6wing  year  king 
Henry,  upon  bis  return  to  England,  ordered  his  son,  prince* 


B  E  C  K  E  T.  311 

Henry,  to  be  crowned  at  Westminster,  and  the  ceremony 
was  performed  by  the  archbishop  of  York :  this  office  be- 
longed to  the  see  of  Canterbury  ;  and  Becket  complained 
of  it  to  the  pope,  who  suspended  the  archbishop  pf  York, 
and  excommunicated  the  bishops  who  assisted  him. 

This  year,  however,  an  accommodation  was  at  length 
Concluded  betwixt  Henry  and  Becket,  upon  the  confines  of 
Normandy,  where  the  king  held  the  bridle  of.  Becket's 
horse,  while  he  mounted  and  dismounted  twice.  Soon 
after  the  archbishop  embarked  for  England  ;  and  upon  hid 
arrival,  received  an  order  from  the  young  king  to  absolve 
the  suspended  and  excommunicated  bishops ;  but  refusing 
to  comply,  the  archbishop  of  York,  and  the  bishops  of 
London  and  Salisbury,  carried  their  complaint  to  the  king 
in  Normandy,  who  was  highly  provoked  at  this  fresh  in- 
stance of  obstinacy  in  Becket,  and  said  on  the  occasion, 
*l  That  he  was  an  unhappy  prince,  who  maintained  a  great 
number  of  lazy,  insignificant  persons  about  him,  none  of 
whom  had  gratitude  or  spirit  enough  to  revenge  him  on  a 
single,  insolent  prelate,  who  gave  him  so  much  disturb- 
ance," or  as  some  report  his  words,  "Shall  this  fellow, 
who  came  to  court  on  a  lame  horse,  with  all  his  estate  in  a 
wallet  behind  him,  trample  upon  his  king,  the  royal  family, 
and  the  whole  kingdom  ?  Will  none  of  all  these  lazy 
cowardly  knights  whom  I  maintain,  deliver  me  from  this 
turbulent  priest  ?"  This  passionate  exclamation  made  too 
deep  an  impression  on  some  of  those  -who  heard  it,  particu- 
larly on  the  four  following  barons,  Reginald  Fitz-Urse,^ 
William  de  Tracy,  Hugh  de  Morville,  and  Richard  Breto, 
who  formed  a  resolution,  either  to  terrify  the  archbishop 
into  submission,  or  to  put  him  to  death. 

Having  laid  their  plan,  they  left  the  court  at  different 
times,  and  took  different  routes,  to  prevent  suspicion  ;  but 
being  conducted  by  the  devil,  as  some  monkish  historians 
tell  us,  they  all  arrived  at  the  castle  of  Ranulph  de  Broc, 
about  six  miles  from  Canterbury,  oh  the  same  day,  Dec. 
28,  1 170,  and  almost  at  the  same  hour.  Here  they  settled 
the  whole  scheme  of  their  proceedings,  and  next  morning 
early  set  out  for  Canterbury,  accompanied  by  a  body  of 
resolute  men,  with  arms  concealed  under  their  clothes. 
These  men  they  placed  in  different  parts  of  the  city,  to 
prevent  any  interruption  from  the  citizens.  The  four 
barons  above-named  then  went  unarmed  with  twelve  of  their 
company,  to  the  archiepiscopal  palace,  about  eleven  o'clock 


812  B  E  C  K  E  T. 

in  the  forenoon  *  and  were  admitted  into  the  apartment  where 
the  archbishop  sat  conversing  with  some  of  his  clergy.  After 
their  admission  a  long  silence  ensued,  which  was  at  length 
broken  by  Reginald  Fitz-Urse,  who  told  the  archbishop 
that  they  were  sent  by  the  king  to  command  him  to  ab- 
solve the  prelates,  and  others,  whom  he  had  excommuni- 
cated ;  and*  then  to  go  to  Winchester,  and  make  satisfac-. 
tion  to  the  young  king,  whom  he  had  endeavoured  to  de- 
throne.    On  this  a  very  long  and  violent  altercation  fail-* 
lowed,  in  the  course  of  which  they  gave  several  hints,  that 
his  life  was  in  danger  if  he  did  not  comply.     But  he  re- 
mained undaunted  in  his  refusal.     At  their  departure  they 
,  charged  his  servants  not  to  allow  him  to  flee ;  on  which  he 
cried  out  with  great  vehemence,  "  Flee !  I  will  never  flee 
from  any  man  living ;  I  am  not  come  to  flee,  but  to  defy 
the  rage  of  impious  assassins.9'     When  they  were  gone, 
his  friends  blamed  him  for  the  roughness  of  his  answers^ 
which  had  inflamed  the  fury  of  his  enemies,  and  earnestly 
pressed  him  to  make  his  escape ;  but  he  only  answered, 
-"I  have  no  need  of  your  advice — I  know  what  I  ought  to 
do."     The  barons,  with  ^  their  accomplices,  finding  their 
threats  were  ineffectual,  put  on  their  coats  of  mail ;  and 
taking  each  a  sword  in  his  right  band,  and  an  axe  in  his 
left,  returned  to  the  palace,  but  found  the  gate  shut.  When 
they  were  preparing  to  break  it  open,  Robert  de  Broc  con- 
ducted them  up  a  back  stair-case,  arid  let  them  in  at  a 
window.     A  cry  then  arose,  "  they  are  armed !  they  are 
armed  !"  on  which  the  clergy  hurried  the  archbishop  almost 
t>y  force  into  the  church,  hoping  that  the  sacredness  of  the 

J 4ace  woukl  protect  him  from  violence.     They  would  also 
ave  shut  the  door,  but  he  cried  out,  "  Begone,  ye  cowards ! 
I  charge  you  on  your  obedience,  do  not  shut  the  door. 
What !  will  you  make  a  castle  of  a  church  ?"    The  conspi- 
rators having  searched  the  palace,  came  to  the  church,  and 
one  of  them  crying,  "  Where  is  the  traitor  ?  where  is  the 
archbishop  ?"  Becket  advanced  boldly  and  said,  "  Here  I 
am,  an  archbishop',  but  no  traitpr."     "Flee,"   cried  the 
conspirator,  "  or  you  are  a  dead  man."     "  1  will  never 
flee,"  replied  Becket.     William  de  Tracy  then  took  hold 
of  his  robe,  and  said,  "  You  are  my  prisoner  ;  come  along 
with  me."     But  Becket  seizing  him  by  the 'collar,  shook 
bini  with  so  much  force,  that  he  almost  threw  him  down. 
De  Tracy,  enraged  at  this  resistance,  aimed  a  blow  with 
his  sword,  which  almost  cut  off  the  arm  of  one  Edward 


B  E  C  K  E  T.  315 

Grim,  a  priest,  and  slightly  wounded  the  archbishop  oit 
the,  head.  By  three  other  blows  given  by  the  other  con* 
spifators,  his  skull  was  cloven  almost  in  two,  and  his  brains 
scattered  about  the  pavement  of  the  church. 

The  assassins,  conscious  of  their  crime,  and  dreading  its 
consequences,  durst  not  return  to  the  king's  court  at  Nor* 
mandy,  but  retired  to  Knaresburgh  in  Yorkshire ;  where 
every  body  avoided  their  company,  hardly  any  person  evea 
choosing  to  eat  or  drink  with  them.  They  at  length  took 
a  voyage  to  Rome,  and  being  admitted  to  penance  by  pope 
Alexander IIL  they  went  to  Jerusalem;  where,  according 
to  the  pope's  order,  they  spent  their  lives  in  penitential 
austerities,  and  died  in  the  Black  Mountain.  They  were 
buried  at  Jerusalem,  without  the  church  door  belonging  to 
the  Templars,  and  this  inscription  was  put  over  them : 

Hie  jacent  miseri,  qui  martyrizaverunt  beatum  Archiepiscopum 

Cantuariensem. 

King  Henry  was  much  disturbed  at  the  news  of  BecketY 
death,  and  immediately  dispatched  an  embassy  to  Rome  to 
clear  himself  from  the  imputation  of  being  the  cause  of  it. 
Immediately  all  divine  offices  ceased  in  the  church  of  Can- 
terbury ;  and  this  for  a  year,  excepting  nine  days,  at  the 
end  of  which,  by  order  of  the  pope,  it  was  re-consecrated. 
Two  years  after,  Becket  was  canonized  ;  and  the  follow- 
ing year,  Henry,  returning  to  England,  went  to  Canter- 
bury, where  he  did  penance  as  a  testimony  of  his  regret 
for  thje  murder  of  Becket.  When  he  came  within  sight  of 
the  church,  where  the  archbishop  was  buried,  he  alighted 
off  his  horse,  and  walked  barefoot,  in  the  habit  of  a  pil- 
grim, till  he  came  to  Becket' s  tomb ;  where,  after  he  had 
prostrated  himself,  and  prayed  for  a  considerable  time,  he 
submitted  to  be  scourged  by  the  monks,  and  passed  all 
that  day  and  night  without  any  refreshment,  and  kneeling 
upon  the  bare  stone.  In  1221,  Becket's  body  was  taken 
up,  in  the  presence  of  king  Henry  III.  and  several  nobility, 
and  deposited  in  a  rich  shrine  on  the  east  side  of  the  church. 
The  miracles  said  to  be  wrought  at  his  tomb  were  so  nu- 
merous, that  we  are  told  two  large  volumes  of  them  were 
kept  in  that  church.  His  shrine  was  visited  frpm  all  parts, 
and  enriched  with  the  most  costly  gifts  and  offerings. 

According  to  lord  Lyttelton,  who  appears  to  have  studied 
the  character  of  this  turbulent  prelate  with  great  care, 
Becket  was  "  a  man  of  great  talents,  of  elevated  thoughts, 


314  B  E  C  K  E  T. 

and  of  invincible  courage ;  but  of  a  most  violent  and  tar** 
bulent  spirit ;  excessively  passionate,  haughty,  and  vain- 
glorious ;  in  bis  resolutions  inflexible,  in  bis  resentments 
implacable.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  he  was  guilty  of  a 
wilful  and  premeditated  perjury ;  that  he  opposed  the  ne- 
cessary course  of  public  justice,  and  acted  in  defiance  of 
the  laws  of  his  country ;  laws  which  he  had  most  solemnly 
acknowledged  and  confirmed  :  nor  is  it  less  evident,  that, 
during  the  heat  of  this  dispute,  he  was  in  the  highest  de- 
gree ungrateful  to  a  very  kind  master,  whose  confidence  in 
him  had  been  boundless,  and  who  from  a  private  condition 
bad  advanced  him  to  be  the  second  man  in  his  kingdom. 
On  what  motives  he  acted,  can  be  certainly  judged  of  by 
Him  alone,  '  to  whom  all  hearts  are  open.'  He  might  be 
misled  by  the  prejudices  of  a  bigotted  age,  and  think  he 
was  doing  an  acceptable  service  to  God,  in  contending, 
even  to  death,  for  the  utmost  excess  of  ecclesiastical  and 
papal  authority.  Yet  the  strength  of  .his  understanding, 
his  conversation  in  courts  and  camps,  among  persons  whose 
notions  were  more  free  and  enlarged,  the  different  colour 
of  his  former  life,  and  the  suddenness  of  the  change  which 
seemed  to  be  wrought  in  him  upon  his  election  to  Canter- 
bury, would  make  one  suspect,  as  many  did  in  the  times 
wherein  he  lived,  that  he  only  became  the  champion  of 
the  church  from  an  ambitious  desire  of  sharing  its  power ; 
a  power  more  independent  on  the  favour  of  the  king,  and 
therefore  more  agreeable  to  the  haughtiness  of  his  mind, 
than  that  which  he  had  enjoyed  as  a  minister  of  the  crown. 
And  this  suspicion  is  increased  by  the  marks  of  cunuingj 
and  falseness,  which  are  evidently  seen  in  his  conduct  on 
some  occasions. ,  Neither  is  it  impossible,  that,  when  first 
be  assumed  his  new  character,  he  might  act  the  part  of  a 
zealot,  merely  or  principally  from  motives  of  arrogance 
and  ambition;  yet,  afterwards,  being  engaged,,  and  in* 
flamed  by  the  contest,  work  himself  up  into  a  real  enthu- 
siasm. The  continual  praises  of  those  with  whom  he  acted, 
the  honours  done  him  in  his  exile  by  all  the  clergy  of 
France,  and  the  vanity  which  appears  so  predominant  in 
his  mind,  may  have  conduced  to  operate  such  a  change. 
He  certainly  shewed  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life  a  spirit  as 
fervent  as  the  warmest  enthusiast's ;  such  a  spirit  indeed 
as  constitutes  heroism,  when  it  exerts  itself  in  a  cause  bene- 
ficial to  mankind.  Had  he  defended  the  established  laws 
of  his  country,  and  the  fundamental  rules  of  civil  justice, 


BECKET.  315 

with  as  much  zeal  and  intrepidity  as  he  opposed  them,  he 
would  have  deserved  to  he  ranked  with  those  great  men, 
whose  virtues  make  one  easily  forget  the  allay  of  some  na- 
tural imperfections:  but,  unhappily,  his  good  qualities 
were  so  misapplied,  that  they  became  no  less  hurtful  to  the 
public  weal  of  the  kingdom,  than  the  worst  of  his  vices.'9 

On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Berington,   in  his  "  History  of 
the  reign  of  Henry  II."  has  attempted  a  .vindication  of 
Becket,  in  which  he  differs  considerably  from  lord  Lyttel^ 
ton  and  other  protestant  historians,  but  for  this  we  must 
refer  to  the  book  itself.     Few  men  have  had  more  bio- 
graphers, if  reliance  could  be  placed  on  them,  than  Becket, 
but  unfortunately  the  greater  part  of  them  were  bis  pane* 
gyrists,  and  not  his  historians,  and  too  much  under  the 
influence  of  the  monkish  principles  of  their  days,  to  de- 
serve much  credit.     The  following  list,  however,  of  hi* 
biographers  may  afford  some  information  to  the  curious 
inquirer,    taken    from*    Leland,    Bale,    Pits,    and  others. 
1*  Herbert  Bosenham,  or  Bosscham,  or  de  Hoscham,  who 
was  this  archbishop's  secretary,  and  also  present  at  the 
slaughter  of  him.     2.  Edward,  a  monk  of  Canterbury,  the 
martyr's  most  intimate  friend.     3.  Johannes  Sarisburiensis, 
who  accompanied  Becket  in  his  exilej  but  never  counte- 
nanced his  behaviour  towards  the  king,  being  as  sharp  at 
writer  against  the  encroachments  of  the  papal  see,  as  any 
man  of  his  time.     4.  Bartholomaeus  Iscanus,  or  Exonensis, 
bishop  of  Exeter,  where  he  died  in  1 1 8*4.     5.  E.  a  monk 
of  Evesham,  who  dedicated  his  book,  or  wrote  it  by  way 
of  epistle,  to  Henry,  abbot  of  Croyland.     6.  William  Ste- 
phens, or  Fitz- Stephen,  a  monk  of  Canterbury,  and,  for 
that  reason,  usually  called  Gulielmus  Cantuariensis.     He 
is  said  to  have  written  three  several  treatises  of  the  life, 
martyrdom,  and  miracles  of  St  Thomas  Becket;    which 
are  now  in  the  Cotton  library:  But  that,  which  there  carries 
his  name,  seems  to  have  been  penned  by  Johannes  Car* 
r^otensis,  who  is  the  same  person  with  Sarisburiensis  above 
mentioned,  since,  in  the  Quadripartite  History,  what  we4 
have  from  him  is  often  to  be  found,  in  the  same  words,  in 
the  life  there   ascribed    to  Fitz-Stephen.     7.  Benedictus 
Pefroburgensis,  abbot  of  Peterborough,  who  died  in  1200. 
8*  Alanus  Teukeshuriensis,  abbot  of  Tewkesbury,  who* died' 
about  the  same  time.     9.  Roger,  a  monk  of  Croyland,  who 
Jived  about  1214.     It  is  observed,  that  St.  Thomas's  mira- 
cles were  become  so  numerous  in  this  writer's  time,  that 


310  B  E  C  KuE  T.    : 

lie  bad  matter   for  seven  large   volumes,  in  composing 
of  which  he  spent  no  less  than  fifteen  years.     10.  Stephen 
Langton,  a  famous  successor  of  Becket' s  in  the  see  of  Can- 
terbury, whose  work  on  this  subject  is  said  to  be  in  the 
library  of  Bene't  college.     11.  Alexander  de  Hales,    so 
called  from  the  monastery  of  Hales  in  Gloucestershire, 
where  he  was  educated,  one  of  the  most  eminent  school- 
men of  his  age,  and  master  to  Thomas  Aquinas,  Bonaven- 
ture,  &c.     12.  John  Grandison,  or  Graunston,  who  died 
in  1369,     13.  Quadrilogus,  or  the  author  of  a  book,  en- 
titled "De  vitaet  processu  S. Thorns  Cantuariensis  et  Mar- 
tyris  super  Libertate  Ecclesiastica."     It  is  collected  out  of 
four  historians,  who  were  contemporary  and  conversant 
with  Becket,  viz*  Herbert  de  Hoscham,  Johannes  Carno- 
tensis,  Gulielmus  Ganterburiensis,   and  Alanus  Teukes- 
huriensis,  who  are  introduced  as  so  many  relaters  of  facts 
interchangeably.     This  book  was  first  printed  at  Paris  in 
1495,  and  is  often  quoted  by  our  historians,  in  the  reign 
of    Henry  II.    by  the    name  of  Quadripartita  Historia. 
14.  Thomas  Stapleton,   the  translator  of  Bede,  in  whose 
book  De  tribus  Thomis,  or  Of  the  three  Thomas's,  our 
saint  makes  as  considerable  a  figure  as  either  Thomas  the 
Apostle,  or  Thomas  Aquinas.     15.  Laurence  Vade,    or 
Wade,  &  Benedictine  monk  of  Canterbury,  who  lived  and 
died  we  know  not  when,  or  where  ;  unless  perhaps  he  be 
the  same  person  with  1 6.  An  anonymous  writer  of  Becket*  s 
life,  who  appears  to  have  been  a  monk  of  that  church,  and 
whose  book  is  said  to  be  in  the  library  at  Lambeth.     17. 
Richard  James,  nephew  of  Dr.  Thomas  James,  some  time 
keeper  of  the  Bodleian  library ;  a  very  industrious   and 
eminent  antiquary,    who  endeavoured  to  overthrow  the 
great  design  of  all  the  above-mentioned  authors,  in  his  "De* 
canonizatio  Thomse  Cantuariensis  et  suorum,"  which,  with 
other  manuscript  pieces  by  the  same  hand,  is  in  the  public 
library  at  Oxford.     These  are  the  principal  writers  of  our 
archbishop's  life ;  besides  whom,  several  other  historians 
have  spoken  largely  of  him ;  as  John  Bromton,  Matthew 
Paris,  Gervase^  &e. l 

BECKINGHAM  (Charles),  a  dramatic  writer,  born  in 
1699,  was  the  son  of  a  linen-draper  in  Fleet-street,  Lon- 
don, and  educated  at  Merchant  Taylors'  school,  under  the 

v  '  1  Biog.  Brit—Henry's  History  of  Great  Britain,  vol.  V.— LyUeJton!*  Hist,  qC 
Henry  II«— -Beriogton't  ditto.-—  &c. 


B  E  C  K  I  N  G  It  A  M.  ill 

» 

rev.  Dr.  Smith*  where  be  made  very  great  proficiency  in  all 
his  studies,  and  gave  proofs  of  extraordinary  talents.  To 
dramatic  poetry  he  appears  to  have  been  very  early  attached, 
two  pieces  of  bis?  "  Scipio  Africanus,"  and  "  Henry  IV. 
of  France,"  both  tragedies,  being  represented  on  the  stage 
before  he  had  completed  his  twentieth  year.  He  wrote 
several  other  poems,  but  his  genius  was  limited  to  a  short 
career,  as  he  died  Feb.  19,  1730-1,  in  the  thirty -second 
year  of  his  age. l 

BECKINGTON,  BEKYNGTON,  or  DE  BEKINTON 
(Thomas),  an  English  prelate,  was  born  in  the  parish  of 
Beckington,  in  Somersetshire,  or  according  to  Di*.  Chand- 
ler at  Wallingford  in  Berkshire,  towards  the  close  of  the 
fourteenth  century.  'He  was  educated  in  grammar  learn- 
ing at  Wykeham's  school  near  Winchester,  while  that 
great  prelate  was  living,  and  proceeded  to  his  college  (New 
College)  in  Oxford  in  1403,  the  year  before  Wykehatn 
died,  and  there  became  doctor  of  laws,  and  continued  in 
his  fellowship  about  twelve  years.  Within  this  period, 
most  probably,  he  was  presented  to  the  rectory  of  St  Leo- 
nard's, near  Hastings  in  Sussex,  and  to  the  vicarage  of 
Sutton  Courtney  in  Berkshire.  He  was  also  prebendary  of 
Bedwin,  York,  and  Lichfield,  archdeacon  of  Buckingham, 
3nd  master  of  St.  Catherine's  hospital  near  the  Tower  in 
London.  About  1429,  he  was  dean  of  the  court  of  arches, 
and  a  synod  being  then  held  in  St.  Paul's  church,  London, 
which  continued  above  six  months,  Beckington  was  one  of 
three  appointed  to  draw  up  a  form  of  law,  according  to 
which  tie  Wickliffites  were  to  be  proceeded  against.  Hav- 
ing been  once  tutor  to  Henry  VI.  and  written  a  book,  in 
which,  in  opposition  to  the  Salique  law,  he  strenuously 
asserted  the  right  of  the  kings  of  England  to  the  crown  of 
France,  he  arrived  to  high  favour  with  that  prince,  and 
was  made  secretary  of  state,  keeper  of  the  privy  seal,  and 
bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells.  On  Sunday,  Oct.  13,  1443,  he 
was  consecrated  by  the  bishop  of  Lincoln  iiythe  old  colle- 
giate church  of  St.  Mary  of  Eton ;  and  after  the  ceremony, 
celebrated  his  first  mass  in  his  pontificals  in  the  new  church 
of  St.  Mary,  then  erecting,  and  not  half  finished,  under  a 
pavilion  provided  for  the  purpose  at  the  altar,  directly  over 
the  spot  where  king  Henry  had  laid  the  first  stone.  . 
Bishop  Beckington  was  well  skilled  in  polite  learning  and 

1  BRg.  Dramaiica.— Jacob's  Liret. 


*l*  BECKINGTOR 

history,  and  very  conversant  in  the  holy  Scriptures;  a  gdod 
preacher,  and  so  generous  a  patron  and  favourer  of  all 
learned  and  ingenious  men,  that  he  was  called  the  Maece- 
nas of  his  age.  His , works  of  munificence  and  charity  were 
numerous.  He  contributed  to  the  completion  of  Lincoln^ 
college,  which  had  been  left  imperfect  by  its  founder, 
Richard  Flemming,  bishop  of  Lincoln,  and  got  the  manor  of 
Newton-Longueville  settled  upon  New  college,  Oxford,  in 
1440.  He  also  laid  out  six  thousand  marks  upon  the  houses 
belonging  to  his  see ;  built  an  edifice,  called  New-buildings, 
and  the  west  side  of  the  cloisters  at  Wells ;  and  erected  a 
conduit  in  the  market-place  of  that  city.  By  his  will, 
dated  Nov.  3,  1464,  and  procured  to  be  confirmed  under 
the  great  seal,  he  left  several  charitable  legacies.  He  died 
at  Wells,  Jan.  14,  1464-5,  and  was  buried  in  his  cathe- 
dral, where  his  monument  is  still  to  be  seen.  His  pane-i 
gyric  was  written  by  Thomas  Chandler,  warden  of  New 
college,  who  had  been  preferred  by  him  to  the  chancellor- 
ship of  Wells.  He  does  not  appear  to  h^ve  ever  been 
chancellor  of  the  university  of  Oxford.  His  book  on  the 
right  of  the  kings  of  England  to  the  crown  of  France  is  in 
the  Cottonian  library,  with  some  other  of  his  pieces,  and  a 
large  collection  of  his  letters  is  in  the  Lambeth  library. 1 

BECKWITH  (Thomas),  an  ingenious  artist  and  anti- 
quary, was  the  sou  of  a  respectable  attorney  in  the  West 
Riding  of  Yorkshire,  He  was  early  apprenticed  as  a  house* 
painter  to  Mr.  George  Fleming  of  Wakefield,  from  whom 
be  derived  his  skill  in  drawing  and  limning,  as  well  as  im- 
bibed a  love  for  the  study  of  antiquities.  To  these  he 
added  heraldic  and  genealogical  knowledge,  to  all  which 
he  applied  himself,  in  his  leisure  hours,  with  such  un- 
wearied diligence,  that  his  collection,  together  with  the 
works  of  his  own  bands,  became  at  length  very  consider* 
able.  Scarcely  any  object  arrested  his  curiosity,  particu- 
cularly  if  an  antique,  of  which  he  did  not  make  a  drawing, 
and  scarcely  a  church  or  a  ruin  in  the  vicinities  of  the  places 
of  his  abode,  that  he  did  not  preserve  either  in  pencil  or 
water-colours.  Some  years  before  his  death  he  obtained  a 
patent  for  a  species  of  hardened  crayons,  which  would 
bear  the  knife,  and  carry  a  .point  like  a  pencil ;  and  about 
the  same  time  he  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the  Society  of 
Antiquaries  of  London.  But  what  contributed  most  to  make 

*  Biog.  Brit.— Chaadier's  life  of  WajmActe,— Chalmers  Hist,  of  Oxford. 


B  E  C  K  W  I  T  H.  319 

him  known  to  those  who  were  unacquainted  with  him  in 
any  other  branch,  was  his  extensive  information  respecting 
genealogical  subjects,  in  consequence  of  which  he  fre- 
quently had  the  arrangement  of  the  pedigrees  of  some  of 
the  first  families,  which  he  was  enabled  to  execute  from 
visitation  books,  and  other  authentic  documents,  which 
fell  into  his  hands.  Few  men  possessed  more  intelligence 
respecting  the  antiquity  and  descents  of  the  principal  fa- 
milies in  the  inland  adjacent  counties,  and  of  various  others 
more  remote  from  him.  It  is  much  to  his  credit,  likewise, 
that  his  industry  in  collecting  could  only  be  exceeded  by 
his  willingness  to  impart  any  information  which  he  had  re- 
ceived. Mr.Beckwith  died  Feb.  17,  1786.  Previous  to 
his  death,  he  had  compiled  "  A  Walk  in  and  about  the 
city  of  York,"  on  the  plan  of  Mr.  Gostling's  "  Walk  in  and 
about  the  city  of  Canterbury,"  but  we  have  not  heard  that 
it  has  been  published.  * 

BECQUET  (Anthony),  a  native  of  Paris,  where  he 
was  born  in  1654,  became  a  monk  of  the  Celestine  order, 
and  was  for  forty  years  their  librarian  at  Paris.  He  was  a 
man  of  considerable  taste,  well  acquainted  with  books  and 
authors,  and  wrote  Latin  and  French  with  great  purity.  He 
died  at  Paris,  Jan.  20,  1730.  His  principal  work  is  a  his- 
tory of  the  congregation  of  the  Celestines,  with  the  lives  of 
the  most  distinguished  men  among  them.  This  work,  writ- 
ten in  Latin,  was  published  at  Paris,  1719,  4to,  la  1721 
he  published  in  French,  a  pamphlet,  entitled  "  Supplement 
et  remarques  critiques  sur  le  vingt-troisieme  chapitre  du  vi« 
tome  de  1'histoire  des  ordres  monastiques  et  militaires,  par 
le  P.  Heliot."  Where  he  speaks  of  the  Celestines,  Becquet 
corrects  his  errors,  and  throws  considerable  light  on. the 
history  of  St.Celestin  and  the  order.  In  the  Trevoux  me- 
moirs, where  this  piece  is  inserted,  Becket  wrote  also 
some  remarks  on  Baillet's  lives  of  the  saints,  and  on  the 
abbe  Fleuri's  Ecclesiastical  History.  He.  is  said  to  have 
employed  some  years  on  a  "  Roman  Martyrology,?  with 
notes  biographical,  critical,  and  astronomical,  but  this  haft 
pot  been  published,  nor  is  it  certain  it  was  completed.  * 

BECTOZ  (Claude  de),  daughter  of  a  gentleman  of 
J)auphin6,  abbess  of  St.  Honore*  de  Tarascon,  where  she 
was  honoured  with  the  name  of  Scholastica,  made  great 
progress  in  the  Latin  language,  and  in  several  branches  ot 

»  Gent.  M^g,  JL78#,  *  Moreri. 


820  B  E  C  f  O  t. 

science,  urtder  Denys  Faucher,  monk  of  Lerins  and  almoner* 
of  his  monastery.  Francis  I.  was  so  charnYed  with  the  let* 
ters  of  this  abbess,  that  he  carried  them,  as  it  is  said,  about 
him,  and  shewed  them  to  the  ladies  of  his  court,  as  models 
for  their  imitation.  He  went  from  Avignon  to  Taras- 
con,  with  queen  Margaret  of  Navarre,  for  the  sake  of  con- 
Tersing  with  this  learned  lady.  She  died  in  1547,  after 
haying  published  several  works,  Latin  and  French,  in  verse 
and  in  prose.  Two  Italian  writers,  Louis  Domenichi  and 
Augustin  della  C  hies  a,  have  published  eloges  on  this  lady 
in  their  respective  works. * 

BEDA,  or  BEDE,  the  brightest  ornament  of  the  eighth 
century,  and  one  of  the  most  eminent  fathers  of  the  Eng- 
lish church,  whose  talents  and  virtues  have  procured  him 
the  name  of  the  Venerable  Bede,  was  born  in  the  year 
€72,  or  according  to  some  in  the  year  673,  on  the  estates 
belonging  afterwards  to  the  abbies  of  St.  Peter  arid  St.  Paul, 
in  the  bishopric  of  Durham,  at  WermoUth  and  Jarrow, 
near  the  mouth  of  the  river  Tvtle.  Much  difference  of 
opinion  prevails  among  those  who  have  treated  of  this  illus- 
trious character,  respecting  the  place  of  his  birth,  some 
even  contending  that  he  was  a  native  of  Italy ;  but  we  shall 
confine  ourselves  to  such  facts  as  seem  to  be  clearly  ascef- 
certained  by  the  majority  of  historians.  These  are  indeed 
but  few,  for  the  life  of  a  studious,  recluse,  and  conscien- 
tious ecclesiastic,  cannot  be  supposed  to  admit  of  many  of 
the  striking  varieties  of  biographical  narrative.  At  the  age 
of  seven  years,  or  about  the  year  €79,  he  was  brought  to 
the  monastery  of  St.  Peter,  and  committed  to  the  care  of 
abbot  Benedict,  under  whom  and  his  successor  Ceolfrid, 
he  was  carefully  educated  for  twelve  years,  a  favour  which 
he  afterwards  repaid  by  writing  the  lives  of  these  his  pre- 
ceptors, which  were  first  published  by  sir  James  Ware  at 
Dublin  in  1664,  8vo.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  was  or- 
dained deacon,  and  in  the  year  702,  being  then  thirty,  he 
was  ordained  priest  by  John  of  Beverley,  bishop  of  Hagul- 
stad  or  Hexham,  who  had  been  formerly  one  of  his  pre- 
ceptors. It  was  probably  from  Beverley,  a  person  of  high 
character  for  piety  and  learning,  that  Bede  imbibed  his 
opinions  concerning  the  monastic  state,  and  the  duties  of 
such  as  embraced  it.  The  bishop  thought  that  in  all  pro- 
fessions men  ought  to  labour  for  their  own  maintenance,  and* 

1  Moreri.— Diet,  Hist. 


BEDA.  JJ21 

for  the  benefit  of  the  society.  He  was  consequently  averse 
to  the  great  errors  of  this  institution,  ease  and  indolence. 
He  inculcated  upon  Beda's  mind,  that  the  duties  of  this 
life  consisted  in  a  fervent  and  edifying  devotion,  a  strict 
adherence  to  the  discipline  of  the  house,  an  absolute  self- 
denial  with  respect  to  the  things  of  this  world,  an  obedience 
to  the  will  of  his  abbot,  and  a  constant  prosecution  of  his 
studies  in  such  a  way  as  might  most  conduce  to  the  benefit 
of  bis  brethren,  and  the  general  advantage  of  the  Christian 
world. 

Nor  were  these  lessons  thrown  away.  Beda  became  so 
exemplary  for  his  great  diligence  and  application,  and  his 
extensive  and  various  learning,  that  his  fame  reached  the 
continent,  and  particularly  Rome,  where  pope  Sergius 
made  earnest  applications  to  the  abbot  Ceolfrid,  that  Beda 
might  be  sent  to  him ;  but  Beda,  enamoured  of  his  studies, 
remained  in  his  monastery,  exerting  his  pious  labours  only 
in  the  Northumbrian  kingdom,  although  tradition,  and 
nothing  but  tradition,  insinuates  that  he  at  one  time  re-  ' 
sided  at  the  university  of  Cambridge,  a  place  which  in  his 
day  probably  had  no  existence,  or  certainly  none  that  de- 
served the  name  of  university.  Remaining  thus  in  his  own 
country,  and  improving  his  knowledge  by  all  the  learning 
his  age  afforded,  animated  at  the  same  time  with  a  wish  to 
contribute  to  the  improvement  of  his  brethren  and  country- 
men, he  concentrated  his  attentions  to  that  point  in  which 
he  could  be  most  useful.  The  collections  he  made  for  his 
**  Ecclesiastical  History"  were  the  labour  of  many  years,  a 
labour  scarcely  conceivable  by  modern  writers  in  the  am-* 
plitude  and  facilities  they  possess  for  acquiring  information. 
This  history  was  in  some  respects  a  new  work,  for  although, 
as  he  owns,  there  were  civil  histories  from  which  he  could 
Tborrow  some  documents,  yet  ecclesiastical  affairs  entered 
so  little  into  their  plan,  that  he  was  obliged  to  seek  for 
materials  adapted  to  his  object,  in  the  lives  of  particular 
persons,  which  frequently  included  contemporary  history  : 
in  the  annals  of  .their  convents,  and  in  such  chronicles  as 
were  written  before  his  time.  He  also  availed  himself  of 
the  high  character  in  which  he  stood  with  many  of  the  pre- 
lates, who  procured  for  him  such  information  as  they  pos- 
sessed or  could  command.  They  foresaw,  probably,  what 
has  happened,  that  this  would  form  a  lasting  record  of 
ecclesiastical  affairs,  and  making  allowance  for  the  le- 
gendary matter  it  contains,  without  a  mixture  of  which  it 

Vol.  IV.  Y 


i2*  Beda. 

is  in  vain  to  look  back  to  the  times  of  Beda,  few  works 
have  supported  thteir  credit  so  long,  or  been  so  generally 
known,  and  Consulted  by  the  learned  world/  He  published 
-this  history  in  the  year  73 1,  when  as  he  informs  us,  he  was 
fifty-nine  years  of  age,  but  before  this  he  had  written  many 
other  books  on  various  subjects,  a  catalogue  of  which  he 
subjoined  to  this  history.  By  these  he  obtained  such  repu- 
tation as  to  be  consulted  by  the  most  eminent  churchmen 
of  his  age,  and  particularly  by  Egbert  bishop  of  York,  who 
was  himself  a  very  learned  man.  To  him  Beda  wrote  an 
epistle,  which  illustrates  the  state  of  the  church  at  that 
time.  It  was  one  of  the  last,  and. indeed  probably  the  very 
last  of  Beda's  writings,  and  in  it  he  expresses  himself  with 
much  freedom,  both  in  the  advice  he  gave  to  Egbert,  and 
With  respect  to  the  inconveniencies  which  he  wisely  fore- 
saw would  arise  from  the  multiplication  of  religious  houses, 
to  the  prejudice  both  of  church  and  state. 

As  this  epistle  throws  much  light  on  the  state  of  eccle- 
siastical affairs  at  the  time,  and,  what  is  more  important  for 
our  present  purpose,  affords  many  proofs  of  the  superior 
wisdom  and  good  sense  of  Beda,  we  shall  avail  ourselves 
of  the  following  sketch  of  it.-  Amongst  other  heads  of  ad- 
vice, he  recommends  the  finishing  St.  Gregory's  model  to 
this  prelate,  by  virtue  of  which  York  was  to  have  been  a 
metropolis  with  twelve  Suffragans.  He  insists  upon  this 
plan,  the  rather,  because  in  some  woody,  and  almost  im- 
passable, parts  of  the  countiy,  there  were  seldom  any 
bishops  came  either  to  confirm,  or  any  priests  to  instruct 
the  people;  and,  therefore,  he  is  of  opinion  that  the  erect- 
ing new  sees  would  be  of  great  service  to  the  church.  For 
this  purpose  he  suggests  the  expedient  of  a  synod  to  form 
the  project,  and  adjust  the  measures ;  and  that  an  order  of 
court  should  be  procured  to  pitch  upon  some  monastery, 
and  turn  it  into  a  bishop's  see:  and  to  prevent  opposition 
from  the  religious  of  that  house,  they  should  be  softened 
with  some"  concessions,  and  allowed  to  choose  the  bishop 
out  of  their  own  society,  and  that  the  joint  government  of 
the  monastery  and  diocese  should  be  put  into  his  hands. 
And  if  the'  altering  the  property  of  the  house  should  make 
the  increasing  the  revenues  necessary,  he  tells  him  there 
are  monasteries  enough  that  ought  to  spare  part  of  their 
estates  for  such  uses ;  and,  therefore,  he  thinks  it  reason- 
able that  some  of  their  lands  should  be  taken  from  them 
and  laid  to  the  bishopric,  especially  since  many  of  them 


B  E  D  A.  $22 

fell  short  of  the  rules  of  their  institution..  And  since' it  is 
commonly  said,  that  several  of  these  places  are  neither 
serviceable  to  God  nor  the  commonwealth,  because  neither 
the  exercises  of  piety  and  discipline  are  practised,  nor  the 
estates  possessed  by  men  in  a  condition  to  defend  the 
country ;  therefore  if  the  houses  were  some  of  them  turned 
into  bishoprics,  it  would  be  a  seasonable  provision  for  the 
church,  and  prove  a  very  commendable  alteration:  A  little 
after  he  intreats  Egbert  to  use  his  interest  with  king  Ceol- 
wulf,  to  reverse  the  charters  of  former  kings  for  the  pur- 
poses above-mentioned :  For  it  has  sometimes  happened, 
says  he,  that  the  piety  of  princes  has  been  over-lavish,  and 
directed  amiss.  He  complains  farther,  that  the  monas- 
teries were  frequently  filled  with  people  of  unsuitable  prac* 
tices ;  that  the  country  seemed  over-stocked  with  those 
foundations ;  that  there  were  scarcely  estates  enough  left 
for  the  laity  of  condition;  and  that,  if  this  humour  in« 
creased,  the  country  would  grow  disfurnished  of  troops  to 
defend  their  frontiers.  He  mentions  another  abuse  crept 
in  of  a  higher  nature  :  that  some  persons  of  quality  of  the 
laity,  who  had  neither  fancy  nor  experience  for  this  way  of 
living,  used  to  purchase  some  of  the  crown-lands,  under 
pretence  of  founding  a  monastery,  and  then  get  a  charter 
of  privileges  signed  by  the  king,  the  bishops,  and  other 
rgreat  men  in  church  and  state ;  and  by  these  expedients 
they  worked  up  a  great  estate,  and  made  themselves  lords 
of  several  villages.  And  thus  getting  discharged  from  the 
service  of  the  commonwealth,  they  retired  for  liberty,  took 
the  range  of  their  fancy,  seized  the  character  of  abbots, 
and  governed  the  monks  without  any  title  to  such  author 
rity ;  and,  which  is  still  more  irregular,  they  sometimes 
do  not  stock  these  places  with  religious,  properly  so  called, 
but  rake  together  a  company  of  strolling  monks,  expelled 
for  their  misbehaviour ;  and  sometimes  they  persuade,  their 
owr>  retinue  to  take  the  tonsure,  and  promise  a  monastic 
obedience.  And  having  furnished  their  religious  houses 
with  such  ill-chosen  company,  they  live  a  life  perfectly 
secular  under  a  monastic  character,  bring  their  wives  into 
the  monasteries,  and  are  husbands  and  abbots  at  the  same 
time.  Thus  for  about  thirty  years,  ever  since  the  death 
of  king  Alfred,  the  country  has  run  riot  in  this  manner ; 
insomuch,  that  there  are  very  few  of  the  lord-lieutenants, 
or  governors  of  towns,  who  have  not  seized  the  religious 
jurisdiction  of  a  monastery,  and  put  their  ladies  in  the 

Y2 


32*  BED  A. 

same  post  of  guilt,  by  making  them  abbesses  without  pagf-> 
ing  through  those  stages  of  discipline  and  retirement  that 
should  qualify  them  for  it ;  and  as  ill  customs  are  apt  to 
fcpread,  the  king's  menial  servants  have  taken  up  the  same 
fashion  :  and  thus  we  find  a  great  many  inconsistent  offices 
and  titles  incorporated  ;  the  same  persons  are  abbots  and 
ministers  of  state,  and  the  court  and  cloister  are  unsuit- 
ably tacked  together ;  and  men  are  trusted  with  the  govern- 
ment of  religious  houses,  before  they  have  practised  any 
part  of  obedience  to  them.  To  stop  the  growth  of  this 
disorder,  Beda  advises  the  convening  of  a  synod ;  that  a 
visitation  might  be  set  on  foot,  and  all  such  unqualified 
persons  thrown  out  of  their  usurpation.  In  short,  he  puts 
the  bishop  in  mind,  that  it  is  part  of  the  episcopal  office 
to  inspect  the  monasteries  of  his  diocese,  to  reform  what  is 
amiss  both  in  head  and  members,  and  not  to  suffer  a  breach 
of  the  rules  of  the  institution.  It  is  your  province,  says  he* 
to  take  eare  that  the  devil  does  not  get  the  ascendant  in 
places  consecrated  to  God  Almighty  5  that  we  may  not  have 
discord  instead  of  quietness,  and  libertinism  instead  of  so- 
briety. * 

It  appears  from  this  epistle  that  he  was  very  much 
indisposed  when  he  wrote  it,  and  probably  he  began  now 
to  fall  into  that  declining  state  of  health,  from  which  he 
never  recovered.  The  last  stage  of  his  distemper  was  an 
asthma,  which  he  supported  with  great  firmness  of  mind, 
although  in  much  weakness  and  pain  for  six  weeks,  during 
which  he  continued  his  usual  pious  labours  among  the 
youth  in  the  monastery,  and  occasionally  prosecuted  some 
of  his  writings,  that  he  might  be  able  to  leave  them  com- 
plete. In  all  the  nights  of  his  sickness,  in  which,  from  the 
nature  of  the  disease,  he  had  little  sleep,  he  sung  hymns 
and  praises.  His  last  days  were  partly  employed  on  his 
translation  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  John  into  the  Saxon  lan- 
guage, and  some  passages  he  was  extracting  from  the  works 
of  £t.  Isidore.  The  day  before  his  death,  he  passed  the 
night  as  usual,  and  continued  dictating  to  the  person  who 
wrote  for  him,  who  observing  his  weakness,  said,  "  There 
remains  now  only  one  chapter,  but  it  seems  very  irksome 
for  you  to  speak,"  to  which  he  answered,  ts  It  is  easy,  take 
another  pen,  dip  it  in  the  ink,  and  write  as  fast  as  you  can." 
About  nine  o'clock  he  sent  for  some  of  his  brethren,  to  di- 
vide among  them  some  incense,  and  other  things  of  little 
value,  which  were  in  his  chest.     While  he  was  speaking  tt 


BED  A,  326 

them,  the  young  man,  Wilbercb,  who  wrote  for  him,  said, 
"  There  is  now,  master,  but  one  sentence  wanting,"  upoa 
which  he  bid  him  write  quick,  and  soon  after  the  young 
man  said,  "It  is  now  done,"  to  which  he  replied,  "  Well  i 
thou  hast  said  the  truth,  it  is  now  done.  Take  up  my  head 
between  your  bands,  and  lift  me,  because  it  pleases  me 
much  to  sit  over  against  the  place  where  I  was  wont  to 
pray,  and  where  now  sitting  I  may  yet  invoke  my  Father." 
Being  thus  seated  according  to  his  desire,  upon  the  floor 
of  his  cell,  he  said,  "  Glory  be  to  the  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Ghost,"  find  as  he  pronounced  the  last  word,  ex- 
pired. This,  according  to  the  best  opinion,  for  the  date 
is  contested,  happened  May  26,  735.  His  body  was  in- 
terred in  the  church  of  his  own  monastery  at  JTarrow,  but, 
long  afterwards,  was  removed  to  Durham,  and  placed  in  the 
same  coffin  or  chest  with  that  of  St.  Cuthbert,  as  appears 
by  a  very  ancient  Saxon  poem  on  the  relics  preserved  in 
the  cathedral  of  Durham,  printed  at  the  end  of  the  "  De- 
cern Scriptores," 

Mr.  Warton  justly  observes,  that  Beda's  knowledge,  if 
we  consider  his  age,  was  extensive  and  profound :  and  it  is 
amazing,  in  so  rude  a  period,  and  during  a  life  of  no  con- 
siderable length,  he  should  have  made  so  successful  a  pro- 
gress, and  such  rapid  improvements,  in  scientifical  and 
philological  studies,  and  have  composed  so  many  elaborate, 
treatises  on  different  subjects.  It  is  diverting  to  sea  the 
French  critics  censuring  Beda  for  credulity ;  they  might 
as  well  have  accused  him  of  superstition.  There  is  much 
perspicuity  and  facility  in  his  Latin  style  :.  but  it  is  void 
of  elegance,  and  often  of  purity  ;  -it  shews  with  what  grace 
and  propriety  he  would  have  written,  had  his  mind  been 
formed  on  better  models.  Whoever  looks  for  digestion  of 
materials,  disposition  of  parts,  and  accuracy  of  narration, 
in  this  writer's  historical  works,  expects  what  could  not 
exist  at  that  time.  He  has  recorded  but  few -civil  transac- 
tions :  but,  besides  that  his  history  professedly  considers 
ecclesiastical  affairs,  we  should  remember,  that  the  build- 
ing of  a  church,  the  preferment  of  an  abbot,  the  canoniza- 
tion qf  a  martyr,  and  the  importation  into  England  of  the 
shin-bone  of  an  apostle,  were  necessarily  matters  of  much 
more  importance  in  Bede's  conceptions  than  victories  or 
revolutions.  He  is  fond  of  minute  description  ;  but  parti- 
cularities are  the  fault  and  often  the  merit  of  early  historians. 

The  first  catalogue  of  Beda's  works,  as  we  have  before* 


\ 


826  BED  A. 

observed,  we  have  from  himself,  at  the  end  of  his  Eccle* 
siastical  history,  which  contains  all  he  had  written  before 
the  year  731.     This  we  find  copied  by  Leland,  who  also 
mentions  some  other  pieces  he  had  met  with  of  Beda's,  and 
points  out  likewise  several  that  passed  under  his  name, 
though  in  his  judgment  spurious.     John  Bale,  in  the  first 
edition  of  his  book,  which  he  finished  in  1548,  mentions 
ninety-six  treatises  written  by  Beda ;  and  in  his  last  edition 
he  swells  these  to  one  hundred  and  forty-five  tracts ;  and 
declares  at  the  close  of  both  his  catalogues,  that  there  were 
numberless  pieces  of  our  author's  besides,  which  he  had 
not  seen.     Pits,  according  to  his  usual  custom,  has  much 
enlarged  even  this  catalogue;  though,  to  do  him  justice, 
he  appears  to  have  taken  great  pains  in  drawing  up  this  ar- 
ticle, and  mentions  the  libraries  in  which  many  of  these 
treatises  were  to  be  found.     The  catalogues  given  by  Tri- 
themius,  Dempster,  and  others,  are  much  inferior  to  these. 
Several  of  Beda's  books  were  printed  very  early,  and,  for 
the  most  part,  very  incorrectly ;  but  the  first  general  col- 
lection of  his  works  appeared  at  Paris  in  1544,  in  three  vo- 
lumes in  folio.     They  were  printed  again  in  1554,  at  the 
same  place,  in  eight  volumes.    They  were  published  in  the 
same  size  and  number  of  volumes,  at  Basil,  in  1563,  re- 
printed at  Cologne  in  1612,  and  lastly  at  the  same  place 
in  1688.     A  very  clear  and  distinct  account  of  the  con- 
tents of  these  volumes,  the  reader  may  find  in  the  very 
learned  and  useful  collection  of  Casimir  Oudin.     But  the 
snost  exact  and  satisfactory  detail  of  Beda's  life  and  writ- . 
ings,  we  owe  to  that  accurate,  judicious,  and  candid  Be- 
nedictine, John  Mabillon.     Neither  has  any  critic  exerted 
his  skill  more  effectually  than  he,  though  largely,  and  with 
copious  extracts  interspersed.     But,  perhaps,  the  easiest, 
plainest,  and  most  concise  representation  of  Beda's  writ- 
ings, occurs  in  the  learned  Dr.  Cave's  "  Hist.  Literaria," 
which  has  been  followed  by  the  editors  of  the  Biog.  Bri- 
tannica.  * 

Those  treatises  of  Beda,  which  are  mentioned  in  his  own 
catalogue  of  his  works,  were  published  by  the  learned  and 
industrious  Mr.  Wharton  from  three  MSS.  in  the  famous 
library  in  the  archiepiscopal  palace  at  Lambeth,  under  the 
title  of  "  Beds  Venerabilis  Opera  qusedam  Theologica, 
nunc  prim&m  edita,  necnon  Historica  antea  semel  edita. 
Accesserunt  Egberti  Archiepiscopi  Eboracensis  Dialogus 
de  Ecclesiastic^  Institutioue,  et  Adhelmi  Episcopi  Scire- 


BEDA,  927 

burnensis  Liber  de  Virginitate,  ex  codice  antiquissimo 
emendatus,"  Lond.  1693,  4to.  The  worthy  editor  gives 
a  large  account  of  these  (and  other  pieces  added  to  them) 
in  an  epistolary  discourse  addressed  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  arch- 
deacon Batteley,  dated  Aug,  30,  1693;  wherein  he  takes 
notice,  amongst  other  things,  that  he  published  these  Opus- 
cula  of  Venerable  Bede,  to  remove  th^  complaint  of  our 
negligence  in  this  respect,  and  that  foreign  writers  might 
not  boast,  as  they  had  hitherto  done,  of  being  the  sole, 
publishers  of  the  works  of  Beda.  He  added  to  these  the 
small  treatises  that  had  been  before  published  by  sir  James 
Ware,  and  which  it  seems  were  at  that  time  become  ex- 
tremely scarce.  But  at  the.  same  time  he  shews  that  he 
was  not  transported,  as  some  editors  are,  with  such  an  af- 
fection for  his  author,,  as  to  conceive  better  of  his  works 
than  they  deserved ;  since  he  confesses  that  the  divines  of 
the  middle  ages  are  by  no  means  to  be  compared  with  the 
ancient  fathers  in  point  of  authority,  or  to  the  moderns  in 
respect  to  acuteness ;  but  nevertheless  they  have  their  uses, 
and  therefore  such  collections  had  been  well  received  by 
the  learned  world,  and  amongst  them  none  better  than  such 
of  the  works  of  Beda  as  had  been  before  published.  J 

BEDA  (Noel),  a  French  divine  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
principal  of  the  college  of  Montaigu  in  1507,  and  syndic* 
of  the  faculty  of  theology  at  Paris,  was  born  in  Picardy. 
He  published  a  violent  attack  on  the  paraphrases  of  Eras- 
mus. That  illustrious  scholar  condescended  to  take  the 
trouble  to  refute  it  with  great  minuteness,  averring  that  he 
had  convicted  his  ceusurer  of  having  advanced  181  lies, 
2  JO  calumnies,  and  47  blasphemies.  The  doctor,  having 
po  reasonable  answer  to  make,  took  extracts  from  the  works 
of  Erasmus,  denounced  him  as  a  heretic  to  the  faculty,  and 
succeeded  in  getting  him  censured.  It  was  he  who  pre- 
vented the  Sorborine  from  deciding  in  favour  of  the  divorce 
of  Henry  VIII.  of  England,  an  opinion  not  discreditable  to 
him,  although  he  is  said  to  have  carried  it  by  his  vehe- 
fnence.  "  As  Beda  (says  pere  Berthier)  could  neither 
bridle  his  pen  nor  his  tongue,  he  dared  to  preach  against 
the  king  himself,  under  pretext,  perhaps,  that  the  court 
did  not  prosecute  heretics  with  as  much  vigour  as  his  bold 
and  extravagant  temper  would  have  wished.    His  intolerant 

*  Bios;.  Brit.— Cave,  vol.  I.r*-Warton's  Hist,  of  Poetry.— >Henry'f  mid  Hume'* 
Hist,  of  Great  Britain,  fco.  - 


326  BEDA. 

spirit  drew  upon  him  twice  successively  a  sentence  of  ba* 
hishment.  Recalled  for  the  third  time,  and  continuing 
incorrigible,  he  was  condemned  by  the  parliament  of  Paris, 
in  1536,  to  make  the  amende-honorable  before  the  church 
of  Notre-Dame,  for  having  spoken  against  the  king,  and 
against  truth."  He  was  afterwards  exiled  to  the  abbey  of 
Mont  St.  Michel,  where  he  died  Feb.  S,  1537,  with  the 
reputation  (adds  pere  Berthier)  of  being  a  violent  declaimer 
and  a  vexatious  adversary.  Beda  wrote,  l."A  treatise 
"  De  unica  Magdalena,  Paris,"  1519,  4to,  against  the 
publications  of  Faber  Stapulensis.  2.  Twelve  books  against 
the  Commentary  of  Faber.  3.  One  against  the  Paraphrases 
of  Erasmus,  1526,  folio;  and  several  other  works,  which 
are  all  marked  with  barbarism  and  rancour.  His  Latin  is 
neither  pure  nor  correct.  Henry  Stephens  has  preserved 
a  circumstance  of  him,  which  sufficiently  marks  his  charac- 
ter. He  undertook  to  dissuade  Francis  I.  from  employing 
professors  of  languages  in  the  university  of  Paris,  and  main-p 
tained  before  that  prince,  in  the  presence  of  Budaeus,  that 
the  Greek  tongue  was  the  cause  of  heresies. l 

BEDDOES  (Thomas),  M.  D.  a  gentleman  of  Welch  ex- 
traction, was  born  at  Shiffnall  in  Shropshire,  April  15,1760, 
where  he  received  the  first  rudiments  of  his  education,  but; 
was  soon  removed  to  the  school  of  Brewood  in  Staffordshire. 
He  very  early  displayed  a  thirst  for  knowledge,  and,  as  i$ 
frequently  the  case,  appears  to  have  been  determined  ra- 
ther by  accident  than  design  to  that  pursuit  in  which  he 
was  afterwards  most  distinguished.  From  Brewood  he  was 
removed  to  the  grammar-school  at  Bridgenorth,  which  h$ 
quitted  at  the  age  of  thirteen.  His  manners  and  habits  at 
school  were  particular,  but  study  and  the  desire  of  know- 
ledge were  predominant.  He  seemed  early  to  give  way  to 
deep  thought  and  reflection ;  and  this,  added  to  a  natural 
shyness  of  disposition,  gave  him  an  air  of  reserve,  which 
distinguished  him  from  his  young  associates.  In  May  1773, 
he  was  placed  under  the  tuition  of  the  Rev.  Sam.  Dicken- 
son, rector  of  Blym-hill  in  Staffordshire,  who  supplied  his 
biographer  with  some  particulars  of  his  character  highly 
creditable  to  him.  In  1776  he  was  entered  of  Pembroke 
college,  Oxford,  where  he  applied  himself  with  remarkable 
industry  and  diligence  to  the  study  of  modern  languages, 
chemistry,  mineralogy,  and  botany,     In  1781,  he  visited 

*  Cfoft.  Diet. — Moreri. — Dupin.— Collier's  Church  History, 


B  E  D  D  O  E  S,  12* 

the  metropolis,  and  studied  anatomy ;  and  in  the  course 
of  these  studies  he  undertook  to  translate  the  works  of  Spal- 
lanzani,  which  appeared  in  1784.     It  is  also  thbught  that 
he  supplied  the  notes  to  Dr.  Cullen's  edition  of  Bergman's 
Physical  and  Chemical  Essays.     In  1783,  he  tool  the  de- 
gree of  M.  A.  and  the  following  year  went  to  Edinburgh, 
where  he  distinguished  himself,  hot  only  as  a  member,  but 
for  some  time  as  president  of  the  royal  medical  and  natural 
history  societies.    In  1786  he  returned  to  Oxford,  and  took 
his  doctor's  degree ;  and  the  same  year  he  visited  the  con- 
tinent, on  his  return  from  which  he  was  appointed  to  the 
chemical  lectureship'  at  Oxford,  in  which  situation  he  dis- 
tinguished himself  much,  and  was  generally  attended  by 
a  numerous  auditory.     Mineralogy  at  this  time  appears  to 
have  occupied  much  of  his  attention:  his  theory  of  the 
earth  being,  according  to  his  biographer,  conformable  to 
that  of  Hutton ;  but  at  this  time  he  was  rather  hasty  in  Iris 
conclusions,  and  would  frequently  acknowledge  that  he 
had  been  misled  in  the  judgment  he  had  formed  of  certain 
fossils,  especially  in  regard  to  the  operations  of  fire.'   Of 
this  a  singular  instance  has  been  given*     A  gentleman  had 
brought  to  Oxford,  from  the  summit  of  one  of  the  mountains 
surrounding  Coniston  lake  in  Lancashire,  some  specimens 
which  had  evidently  undergone  the  operation  of  fire,  but 
which  happened  to  abound  near  a  hollow  on  the  top  of  the 
mountain,  which  -some  Italian  gentlemen  had  not  long  be- 
fore pronounced  to  be  the  crater  of  an  extinct  volcano.   Upon 
shewing  them  to  Di\  Beddoes,  he  was  so  persuaded  of  the 
fact,  that  he  even  summoned  a  particular  assembly  of  the 
members  of  the  university  by  an  extraordinary  notice,  be- 
fore whom  he  delivered  a  long  lecture  on  the  specimens 
supplied,  as  indicative  of  the  natural  operations  of  fire  in 
those  parts  of  England.     A  very  short  time  after,  he  de- 
clared that  they  were  evidently  nothing  better  than  mere 
slags  from  some   old  furnace,    and    that  he    had    since 
discovered  a  criterion  by  which  he  could  distinguish  be- 
tween the  productions  of  natural  and  artificial  fire;  but  this 
discovery,  and  the  consequent  change  of  his  sentiments,  he 
could  not  be  prevailed  on  to  announce  as  publicly  as  he 
had  delivered  his  former  opinions. 

At  this  time  nothing  seemed  to  interest  him  more  than 
the  account  of  the  two  Giants  Causeways,  or  groups  of  pris- 
matic basaltine  columns,  in  the  Venetian  states,  in  Italy,  in 
fhe  LXVth.  volume  of  the  Philosophical  Transactions,  com- 


330  BEDDOES.     N 

municated  by  Mr.  Strange,  long  his  majesty's  resident  at 
Venice.  Dr.Beddoes's  retirement  from  Oxford,  about 
1792,  was  accelerated  by  his  intemperance  in  politics,  oc- 
casioned by  the  remarkable  circumstances  of  the  times.  In 
the  following  year  he  removed  to  Bristol,  where  he  began 
that  career  of  medical  and  physiological  researches,  ex- 
periments, and  lectures,  which  made  him  so  generally  con- 
spicuous, and  which  appear  to  have  continued  with  the 
most  striking  zeal  and  perseverance  to  the  last  moment  of 
bis  short  life,  yaried  according  to  circumstances,  but  never 
wholly  abandoned.  In  1798,  his  Pneumatic  Institution 
was  opened,  which  very  much  excited  the  attention  of  the 
public,  although  its  practical  effects  were  not  correspondent 
io  the  high  expectations  entertained.  Various  publications 
.came  from  his  pen  in  rapid  succession,  until  1808,  when 
he  was  seized  with  a  disorder  which  proved  fatal,  Dec.  24,  of 
that  year.  This,  which  was  a  dropsy  of  the  chest,  he  had 
mistaken  for  a  hepatic  disorder.  His  character,  as  given  by 
his  learned  and  affectionate  biographer,  is  highly  favour* 
able,  but  it  presents  two  subjects  of  regret,  the  one  that 
be  should  have  thought  it  necessary  to  waste  so  much  time 
on  the  fleeting  politics  of  the  day ;  the  other,  that  in  his 
many  schemes  and  experimental  researches,  he  was  pre- 
cipitate and  unsteady.  He  was  undoubtedly  capable  of 
great  things,  but  too  hurried,  too  sanguine,  too  uncon- 
scious of  the  lapse  of  time,  and  too  little  aware  of  the  want 
of  opportunity  for  any  one  man  to  accomplish  any  very 
numerous  ends,  either  of  invention'  or  reformation.  The 
learned  world  had  reason  to  lament  his  early  death,  because 
age  migh,thave  corrected  those  blemishes  or  eccentricities  of 
his  character,  which  prevented  his  doing  justice,  even  to 
bis  own  designs  and  his  own  powers.  Had  he  been  less 
impetuous,  less  sanguine,  and  more  capable  of  fixing  and 
concentrating  his  views,  he  might  have  accomplished 
much  more  good,  and  left  the  world  much  more  benefited 
by  his  extraordinary  labours  and  indefatigable  diligence. 
Of  this  labour  and  diligence,  the  reader  may  form  a  correct 
notion  by  the  following  list  of  his  publications.  1.. "  Trans- 
lation of  Spallanzani's  dissertations  on  Natural  History," 
1784,  reprinted  1790.  2.  "  Notes  to  a  translation  of  Berg- 
man's Physical  and  Chemical  Essays,"  1784.  3.  "  Trans- 
lation of  Bergman's  essay  on  Elective  Attractions,1'  1785. 
4.  "Translation  of  Scheele's  Chemical  Essays,"  edited  and 
corrected  by  him,  1786.     5.  "  Chemical  Experiments  and 


BEDDOES.  SSl 

Opinions  extracted  from  a  work  published  in  the  last  cen- 
tury," 1790.     6.  Three  papers  in  the  Philosophical  Tran- 
sactions for  1791  and  1792,  on  "The  affinity  between  Ba- 
saltes  and  Granite — the  conversion  of  cast  into  malleable 
iron — and  second  part  to  ditto."    7.  "  Memorial  addressed 
to  the  curators  of  the  Bodleian  Library/9  no  date.      8.  °  A 
letter  to  a  Lady  on  the  subject  of  early  Instruction,  parti- 
ticularly  that  of  the  poor/'  1792,  printed  but  not  published. 
9.  "  Alexander's  Expedition  to  the  Indian  Ocean/'  not 
published.     10.  "  Observations  on  the  nature  of  demons- 
trative evidence,  with  reflections   on   Language/'    1792. 
11.  "Observations  on  the  nature  and  cure  of  Calculus, 
Sea-scurvy,  Catarrh,  and  Fever,"  1792.     12.  "  History  of 
Isaac  Jenkins,"  a  moral  fiction,   1793.     13.  "Letters  from 
Dr.  Withering,     Dr.  Ewart,  *  Dr.  Thornton,     &c."     1794. 
14.  "  A  Guide  for  self-preservation  and  parental  affection, 
1794.    15.  "A  proposal  for  the  improvement  of  Medicine, 
1794.     16.  "  Considerations  on  the  medicinal  use,  and  on 
the  production  of  Factitious  Airs  :"  parts  I.  and  II.  1794, 
part  III.  1795*  and  parte  IV.  and  V.  1796.     17.  "Brown's 
elements  of  Medicine,  with  a  preface  and  notes,"  1795. 
13.  "  Translation  from  the  Spanish,  of  Gimbernat's  new 
method    of  operating   on    Femoral  Hernia,"   1795.     19. 
"  Outline  of  a  plan  for  determining  the  medicinal  powers 
of  Factitious  Airs,"  1795.     20.  "  A  word  in  defence  of  the 
Bill  of  Rights  against  Gagging-bills,   1795.     21.  "Where 
would  be  the  harm  of  a  Speedy  Peace  ?"   1795.     22.'  "  An 
essay  on  the  public  merits  of  Mr.  Pitt,"  1796.     23.  w  A. 
letter  to  Mr.  Pitt  on  the  Scarcity,"  1796.  24.  u  Alternatives 
compared,  or,  What  shall  the  Rich  do  to  be  safe  ?"     25. 
"  Suggestions  toVvards  setting  on  foot  the  projected  estab- 
lishment for  Pneumatic  Medicine,"  1797.     26.  "Reports 
relating  to  Nitrous  Acid,"  1797.     27.  "  A  lecture  intro- 
ductory to  a  popular  course  of  Anatomy,"   1797.     28.  u  A 
suggestion  towards  an  essential  improvement  in  the  Bristol 
Infirmary,"  1798.      29.    "  Contributions  to   medical  and 
physical  knowledge  from  the  West  of  England,"   1799. 
30.  "  Popular  essay  on  Consumption,"  1799.     31.  "  No- 
tice of  some  observations  made  at  the  Pneumatic  Institu- 
tion," 1799.     32.  "A  second  and  third  Report  on  Nitrous 
Acid,"  1799,  1800.     33.  "  Essay  on  the  medical  and  do- 
mestic management  of  the  Consumptive ;  on  Digitalis  and 
on   Scrophula,"   1801,.      34.  "  Hygeia ;  or  Essays,  moral 
and  medical,  on  the  causes  affecting  the  personal  state  of 


&**        -  BEDBOEi 

the  middling  and  affluent  classes,"  1801-2.  35.  "Rule* 
of  the  institution  for  the  sick  and  drooping  Poor."  An  edi- 
tion on  larger  paper  was  entitled  "  Instruction  for  people 
of  all  capacities  respecting  their  own  health  and  that  of 
their  children,"  1*03.  36.  "  The  manual  of  Health,  or 
the  Invalid  conducted  safely  through  the  Seasons,"  1806. 
27.  "  On  Fever  as  connected  with  Inflammation,"  1807* 
3&.  "  A  letter  to  sir  Joseph  Banks,  on  the  prevailing  dis- 
contents, abuse,  and  imperfections  in  Medicine,"  1808. 
.39.  "  Good  advice  for  the  Husbandman  in  Harvest,  and  for 
alt  those  who  labour  bard  in  hot  births ;  as  also  for  others 
who  will  take  it  in  warm  weather,"  1808.  Besides  these, 
Dr.  Beddoes  was  a  considerable  contributor  to  several  of 
the  medical  and  literary  journals. ' 

BEDELL  (William),  bishop  of  Kilmore  in  Ireland,  and 
one  of  the  most  pious  and  exemplary  prelates  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  was  descended  from  a  good  family,  and 
born  in  the  year  1570,  at  Black  Notley  in  Essex,  and  be- 
ing designed  for  the  church,  wa&  sent  to  Emanuel  college 
in  Cambridge,  where  he  was  matriculated  pensioner,  March 
12,  1584.     He  was  placed  under  the  care  of  Dr,  Chadder- 
ton,  who  was  for  many  years  head  of  that  house,  made 
great  progress  in  his  studies,  and  went  early  into  holy 
•orders.     In  1593  he  was  chosen  fellow  of  his  college,  and 
in.  1599  took  his  degree  of  bachelor  in  divinity.     He  then 
removed  from  the  university  to  St.  Edmundsbury  in  Suf- 
folk, where  be  had  a  church,  and  by  an  assiduous  appli- 
cation to  the  duties  of  his  function,  was  much  noticed  by 
many  gentlemen  who  lived  near  that  place.     He  continued 
there  for  some  years,   till  an  opportunity  offered  of  his 
going  as  chaplain  with  sir  Henry  Wotton,  whom  king  James 
had  appointed  his  ambassador  to  the  state  of  Venice,  about 
the  year  1604.    While  he  resided  in  that  city,  he  became  ,. 
intimately  acquainted  with  the  famous  father  Paul  Sarpi, 
who  took  him  into  his  confidence,  taught  him  the  Italian 
language,  of  which  he  became  a  perfect  master,  and  trans- 
lated into  that  tongue  the  English  Common  Prayer  Book, 
which  was  extremely  well  received  by  many  of  the  clergy 
there,  especially  by  the  seven  divines  appointed  by  the 
republic  to  preach  against  the  pope,  during  the  time  of 
the  interdict,  and  which  they  intended  for  their  model,  in 
case  they  had  broken  absolutely  with  Rome,  which  waa 

>  Stock's  Life  of  Dr.  Bcddees,  1811,  4to.— Brit.  Critic,  vol.  XXX VII. 


V. 


S  E  D  E  L  L  33J 

what  they  then  sincerely  desired.     In  return  for  the  fa- 
vours   he  received  from  father  Paul,  Mr.  Bedell  drew  up 
an  English  grammar  for  his  use,  and  in  many  other  re- 
spects assisted  him  in   his  studies.     He  continued  eight 
years  in  Venice,  during  which  time  he^greatly  improved 
himself  in  the  Hebrew  language,  by  the  assistance  of  the 
famous  rabbi  Leo,  who  taught  him  the  Jewish  pronuncia- 
tion, and  other  parts  of  rabbinical  learning;  and  by  his 
means  it  was  that  he  purchased  a  very  fair  manuscript  of 
the  Old  Testament,  which  he  bequeathed,  as  a  mark  of 
respect,  to  Emanuel-college,  and  which,  it  is  said,  cost 
him   its  weight  in  silver.     He  became  acquainted  there 
likewise,  with  the  celebrated  Antonio  de  Dominis,  arch- 
bishop of  Spalata,  who  was  so  well  pleased  with  his  con- 
versation, that  he  communicated  to  him  his  secret,  and 
shewed  him  his  famous  book  "  de  Republica  Ecclesiastical* 
which  he  afterwards  printed  at  London.     The  original  MS. 
is,  if  we  mistake  not,  among  bishop  Tanner's  collection* 
in  the  Bodleian.     Bedell  took  the  freedom  which  he  al- 
lowed, him,   and  corrected  many  misapplications  of  texts 
of  scripture,  and  quotations  of  fathers ;  for  that  prelate, 
being  utterly  ignorant  of  the  Greek  tongile,  committed 
many  mistakes,  both  in  the  one  and  the  other ;  and  some 
escaped  Bedell's  diligence.     De  Dominis  took  all  this  ia 
good  part  from  him,  and  entered  into  such  familiarity  with 
him,  and  found  his,  assistance  so  useful,  and  indeed  so  ne- 
cessary to  himself,  that  he  used  to  say,  he  could  do  nothing 
without  him.     At  Mr.   Bedell's  departure  from  Venice^ 
father  Paul  expressed  great  concern,  and  assured  him,  that 
himself  and  many  others  would  most  willingly  have  accom- 
panied him,  if  it  had  been  in  their  power.     He,  likewise* 
gave  him  his  picture,  a  Hebrew  Bible  without  points,  and 
a  small'  Hebrew  Psalter,  in  which  he  wrote  some  sentences 
expressing  the  sincerity  of  his  friendship.     He  gave  him, 
also,  the  manuscript  of  his  famous  "  History  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  Trent,"  with  the  Histories  of  the  Interdict  and  In- 
quisition, all  written  by  himself,  with  a  large  collection  of 
letters,  which  were   written  to   him  weekly  from  Rome, 
during  the  dispute  between  the  Jesuits  and  Dominican*, 
concerning  the  efficacy  of  grace,  which  it  is  supposed  are 
lost.     On  his  return  to  England,  he  immediately  retired 
to  his  charge  at,  St.  Edmundsbury,  without  aspiring  to  any 
preferment,  and  went  on  in  his  ministerial  labours.     It  was 
here  he  employed  himself  in  translating  the  Histories  of 


*$*  BEDELL. 

the  Interdict  and  Inquisition   (which  he  dedicated  to  tb4 
king) ;  as  also  the  two   last  books  of  the  History  of  the 
Council  of  Trent  into  Latin,  sir  Adam  Newton   having 
translated  the  two  first.     At  this  time,  he  mixed  so  seldom 
with  the  world,  that  he  was  almost  totally  forgotten.     So 
little  was  he  remembered,  that,  some  years  after,  when  the 
celebrated  Diodati,  of  Geneva,  came  over  to  England,  he 
could  not,  though  acquainted  with  many  of  the  clergy,  hear 
of  Mr.  Bedell  from  any  person  with  whom  he  happened  to 
converse.     Diodati  was  greatly  amazed,  that  so  extraor- 
dinary a  man,  who  was  so  much  admired  at  Venice  by  the 
best  judges  of  merit,  should  not  be  known  in  his  own  coun- 
try ;  and  he  had  given  up  all  hopes  of  finding  him  out, 
when,  to  their  no  small  joy,  they  accidentally  met  each 
other  in  the  streets  of  London.     Upon  this  occasion,  Dio- 
dati presented  his  friend  to  Morton,  the  learned  and  an- 
cient bishop  of  Durham,  and  told  him  how  highly  he  had 
been  valued  by  father  Paul,  which  engaged  the  bishop  to 
treat  Mr.  Bedell  with  very  particular  respect.     At  length 
pir  Thomas  Jermyn  taking  notice  of  his  abilities,  presented 
Jiim  to  the  living  of  Horingsheath,  A.  D.  1615:  but  he 
found  difficulties  in  obtaining  institution  and  induction  from 
Dr.  Jegon,  bishop  of  Norwich,  who  demanded  large  fees 
upon  this  account.  Mr.  Bedell  was  so  nice  in  his  sentiments 
of  simony,  that  he  looked  upon  every  payment  as  such, 
beyond  a  Competent  gratification,  for  the  writing;  the  wax, 
and  the  parchment;   and,  refusing  to  take  out  his  title 
upon  other  terms,  left  the  bishop  and  went  home,  but  in  a 
few  days  the  bishop  sent  for  him,  and  gave  him  his  title 
without  fees,  and  he  removed  to  Horingsheath,  where  he 
.continued  unnoticed' twelve  years,  although  he  gave  a  sin- 
gular evidence  of  his  great  capacity,  in  a  book  of  contro- 
versy with  the  church  of  Roine,  which  he  published  and 
dedicated  to  king  Charles  I.  then  prince  of  Wales,  in  1624. 
It  is  now  annexed  to  Burnet's  Life  of  our  author.     How- 
ever neglected  he  lived  in  England,  yet  his  fame  had  reached 
Ireland,  and  he  was,  in  1627,  unanimously  elected  provost 
of  Trinity- college  in  Dublin,  but  this  he  declined,  until 
the  king  laid  his  positive  commands  on  him,  which  he 
obeyed,  and  on  August  16th  of  that  year,  he  was  sworn 
provost;    At  his  first  entrance  upon  this  scene,  he  resolved 
to  act  nothing  until  he  became  perfectly  acquainted  witb^ 
the  statutes  of  the  house,  and  the  tempers  of  the  people 
whom  he  was  appointed  to  govern }  and,  therefore,  car- 


B  £  C  :s  t  L.  isS 

lied  himself  so  abstractedly  from  all  affairs,  that  he  passed 
some  time  for  a  soft  and  weak  man,  and  even  primate 
Usher  began  to  waver  in  his  opinion  of  him.  When  he 
went  to  England  some  few  months  after,  to  bring  over  his 
family,  he  had  thoughts  of  resigninghis  new  preferment* 
and  returning  to  his  benefice  in  Suffolk :  but  an  encou- 
raging letter  from  primate  Usher  prevented  him,  and  he 
applied  himself  to  the  government  of  the  college,  with 
a  vigour  of  mind  peculiar  to  him. 

His  first  business  was  to  compose  divisions  among  the 
fellows,  to  rectify  disorders,  and  to  restore  discipline ;  and 
as  be  was  a  great  promoter  of  religion,  he  catechised  the 
youth  once  a  week,  and  divided  the  church  catechism  into 
fifty -two  parts,  one  for  every  Sunday,  and  explained  it  in  a 
way  so  mixed  with  speculative  and  practical  matters,  that 
his  sermons  were  looked  upon  as  lectures  of  divinity.  He 
continued  about  two  years  in  this  employment,  when,  by 
the  interest  of  sir  Thomas  Jermyn,  and  the  application  of 
Laud,  bishop  of  London,  he  was  advanced  to  the  sees  of 
Kilmore  and  Ardagh,  and  consecrated  on  the  13th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1629,  at  Drogheda,  in  St.  Peter's  church,  in  the 
fifty-ninth  year  of  his  age.  In  the  letters  for  his  promo-* 
tion,  the  king  made  honourable  mention  of  the  satisfaction 
he  took  in  the  services  he  had  done,  and  the  reformation  he 
had  wrought  in  the  university.  He  found  his  dioceses 
under  vast  disorders,  the  revenues  wasted  by  excessive  di- 
lapidations, and  all  things  exposed  to  sale  in  a  sordid  man- 
ner. The  cathedral  of  Ardagh,  and  the  bishop's  houses, 
were  all  fiat  to  the  ground,  the  parish  churches  in  ruins,  and 
the  insolence  of  the  Popish  clergy  insufferable ;  the  op- 
pressions of  the  ecclesiastical  courts  excessive ;  and  plurali- 
ties and  non-residence  shamefully  prevailing.  Yet  he  had 
the  courage,  notwithstanding  these  difficulties,  to  under- 
take a  thorough  reformation ;  and  the  first  step  he  took 
was,  to  recover  part  of  the  lands  of  which  his  sees  had  been 
despoiled  by  his  predecessors,  that  he  might  be  in  a  con- 
dition to  subsist,  while  he  laboured  to  reform  other  abuses. 
In  this  he  met  with  such  success,  as  encouraged  him  to 

{Proceed  upon  his  own  plan,  and  to  be  content  with  nothing 
ess  than  an  absolute  reformation  of  those  which  he  esteemed 
capital  and  enormous  abuses,  particularly  with  regard  to 
pluralities,  showing  an  example  in  his  own  case  by  resign- 
ing tlfe  bishopric  of  Ardagh,  which  he  had  the  satis- 
faction to  see  followed  in  instances  of  a  more  flagrant 


J3d  B  E  D  E  Jt  t/. 

,  nature.  .  Oa  the  arrival  of  the  lord-deputy.  Wentwortn> 
in   1633,   our  prelate  had  the  misfortune  to  fall   under 
bis  displeasure,  for  setting  his  hand  to  a  petition  for  re- 
dress of  grievances ;  and  so  high  and  open  was  the  lord- 
deputy's  testimony  of   this   displeasure,   that  the  bishop 
did  not  think  fit  to  go  in  person  to  congratulate  him  (as 
others  did)   upon  his  entering  into  his  .  government.     It 
is,  however,  very  improbable,  that  he  should  write  over  to 
sir  Thomas  Jermyn  and  his  friends  in  England,  or  procure, 
by  their  interest,  injunctions  to  the  lord-deputy,  to  receive 
him  into  favour,  a  report  which  suits  very  ill  with  the  cha- 
racter either  of  the  men  or  of  the  times.     On  the  contrary, 
it  appears  from  his.  own  letter  to  the  lord  deputy,  that  it 
was  he,  not  the  bishop,  who  had  complained  in  England  j 
that  he  meant  to  justify  himself  to  the  deputy,  and  expect- 
ed, on  that  justification,  he  should  retract  his  complaints. 
One  may  safely  affirm,   from  the  perusal  of  this  single 
epistle,  that  our  prelate  was  as  thorough  a  statesman  as  the 
deputy,  and  that  he  knew  how  to  become  all  things  to  all 
men,  without  doing  any  thing  beneath  him,  or  inconsistent 
with  his  dignity.     This  conduct  l?ad  its  effect,  and  in  three, 
weeks  it  appears  that  he  stood  well  with  the  deputy,  and 
probably  without  any  interposition  but  bis  own  letter  before 
mentioned.     He  then  went  on  cheerfully  in  doing  his  duty, 
and  for  the  benefit  of  the  church,  aud  was  very  successful. 
His  own  example  did  much:  he  loved  the  Christian  power 
of  a  bishop,  without  affecting  either  political  authority  or 
pomp.     Whatever  he  did  was  so  visibly  for  the  good  of  his 
Sock,  that  he  seldom  failed  of  being  well  supported  by  his 
clergy;  and  such  as  opposed  him  did  it  with  visible  reluc- 
-  tance,  for  he  had  the  esteem  of  the  good  men  of  all  parties, 
and  was  as  much  reverenced  as  any  bishop  in  Ireland.     In 
1638  he  convened  a  synod,  and  made  some  excellent  ca- 
nons that  are  yet  extant,  and  when  offence  was  taken  at 
this,  the  legality  of  the  meeting  questioned,  and  the  bishop 
even  threatened  with  the  star-chamber,  archbishop  Usher, 
who  was  consulted,  said,  "  You  had  better  let  hitn  alone, 
for  fear,  if  he,  should  be  provoked,  he  should  say  much 
more  for  himself  than  any  of  his  accusers  can  say  against 
him."     Amongst  other  extraordinary  things  he  did,  there 
was  none  more  worthy  of  remembrance  than  his  removing 
his  lay-chancellor,  sitting  in  his  own  courts,  bearing  causes, 
and  retrieving  thereby  the  jurisdiction  which  anciently  be- 
longed to  a  bishop.    The  chancellor  upon  this  filed  bis  bill 


B  £  DELL.  «7 

in  equity,  and  obtained  a  decree  in  cbahcefy  against  the 
bishop,  with  one  hundred  pounds  costs.  But  by  this  time 
(the  chancellor  saw  so  visibly  the  difference  between  the 
bishop's  sitting  in  that  seat  and  his  own,  that  he  never 
called  for  his  costs,  but  appointed  a  surrogate,  with  orders 
to  obey  the  bishop  in  every  thing,  and  so  his  lordship  went 
on  in  his  own  way.  Our  bishop  was  no  persecutor  of  Pa- 
pists,' and  yet  the  most  successful  enemy  they  ever  had ; 
and  if  the  other  bishops  had  followed  his  example,  the  Pro- 
testant  religion  must  have  spread  itself,  through  every  part 
of  the  country.  He.  laboured  to  convert  the  better  sort  of 
the  Popish  clergy,  and  in  this  he  had  great  success.  He 
procured  the  Common-prayer,  which  had  been  translated 
into  Irish,  and  caused  it  to  be  read  in  his  cathedral,  in  his 
own  presence,  every  Sunday,  having  himself  learned  that 
language  perfectly,  though  he  never  attempted  to  speak  it. 
The  New  Testament  had  been  also  translated  by  William 
Daniel,  archbishop  of  Tuam,  but  our  prelate  first  procured 
the  Old  Testament  to  be  translated  by  one  King ;  and  be* 
cause  (the  translator  was  ignorant  of  the  original  tongues, 
and  did  it  from  the  English,  the  bishop  himself  revised  and 
compared  it  with  the  Hebrew,  and  the  best  translations. 
He  caused,  likewise,  some  of  Chrysostom's  and  Leo's  ho- 
milies, in  commendation  of  the  scriptures,  to  be  rendered 
both  into  English  and  Irish,  that  the  common  people  might 
see,  that  in  the  opinion  of  the  ancient  fathers,  they  had  not 
only  a  right  to  read  the  scriptures  as  well  as  the  clergy,  but 
it  was  their  duty  so  to*  do.  He  met  with  great  opposition 
in  this  work,  from  a  persecution  against  the  translator, 
raised  without  reason,  and  carried  on  with  much  passion  by 
those  from  whom  he  had  no  cause  to  expect  it.  But,  how- 
ever, he  got  the  translation  finished,  which  he  would  have 
printed  in  his  own  house,  and  at  his  own  charge,  if  the 
troubles  in  Ireland  had  not  prevented  it ;  and  as  it  was,  his 
labours  were  not  useless,  for  the  translation  escaped  the 
hands  of  the  rebels,  and  was  afterwards  printed  at  the  ex- 
pence  of  the  celebrated  Robert  Boyle. 

The  bishop  was  very  moderate  in  his  sentiments,  and  in 
his  methods  of  enforcing  them ;  he  loved  to  bring  men  into 
the  communion  of  the  church  of  England,  but  he  did  hot 
like  compelling  them  ;  and  it  was  his  opinion,  that  Protest- 
ants would  agree  well  enough  if  they  could  be  brought  to* 
understand  each  other.  These  principles  induced  him  to 
promote  Mr.  Drury>s  design,  of  endeavouring  to  reconcile 

VouIV.  2 


338  BEDELL 

*         -  . » 

i 

the  Lutherans  to  the  Calvijiists,  a  project  which  had  bees 
encouraged  by  many  other  worthy,  persons,  and  towards 
which  he  subscribed  twenty  pounds  a  year,  to  defravrthe 
expences  of  Mr,  Drury's  negotiations,     The  bishop  him- 
self, it  must  be  mentioned,  was  a  Calvihist,  which  Burnet 
thinks  was  the  cause  of  his  having  so  little  preferment  in 
England.     He  gave  another  instance*  not  only  of  his  cha- 
rity towards,  but  his  ability  in,  reconciling  those  of  other 
communions,   to   the   churches  of  England  and   Ireland. 
There  were  some  Lutherans  at  Dublin,  who,  for  not  com- 
ing to  church  and  taking  the  sacrament,  were  cited  into  the 
archbishop's  consistory,   upon  which  they  desired  time  to 
write  to  their  divines  in  Germany,  which  was  given  them, 
.and  when  their  answers  came,  they  contained  some  excep- 
tions to  the  doctrine,  of  the  church,  as  not  explaining  the 
presence  of  Christ  in  the  sacrament,  suitable  to  their  senti- 
ments ;  to  which  bishop  Bedell  gave  so  full  and  clear,  and 
withal  so  moderate  and  charitable,  an  answer,  as  entirely 
satisfied  their  objections,  insomuch  that  those  divines  ad- 
vised their  countrymen  to  join  in   communion  with  the 
church,  which  they  accordingly  did.     In  this  mild  and  pru- 
dent way  our  prelate  conducted  his  charge,  with  great  re- 
putation to  himself,  and  with  the  general  approbation  of  all 
good  men,  who  were  perfectly  pleased  with  his  doctrine, 
and  edified  by  his  example.     When  the  bloody  rebellion 
fcroke  out  in  October  1641,  the  bishop  did  not  at  first  feel 
the  violence  of  its  effects ;  for  even  those  rebels,  who  in 
their  conduct  testified  so  little  of  humanity,  professed  a 
great  veneration  for  him,  and  openly  declared  he  should  be 
the  last  Englishman  they  would  drive  out  of  Ireland.     His 
was  the  only  English  house  in  the  county  of  Cavan  that  was 
unviolatedr  notwithstanding  that  it,  and  its  out-buildings, 
the  church,  and  the  church-yard,  were  filled  with  people 
who  fled  to. him  for  shelter,  whom,  by  his  preaching  and 
prayers,  he  encouraged  to  expect  and  endure  the  worst 
with  patience.     In  the  mean  time,  Dr.  Swiney,  the  Popish 
titular  bishop  of  Kilmore,  came  to  Cavan,  and  pretended 
great  concern  and  kindness  for  bishop  Bedell.     Our  pre- 
iatje  had  converted  his  brother,  and  kept  him  in  his  house 
till  he  could  otherwise  provide  for  him;    and  Dr.  Swiney 
desired  likewise  to  lodge  in  his  house,'  assuring  him  in  the 
strongest  terms  of  his  protection.     But  this  bishop  Bedell 
cteclined,  in  a  very  civil  and  well-written  Latin  letter,  urg- 
ing the  smallness  of  his  house,  the  great  number  of  people 


BEDELL.  339 

that  had  taken  shelter  with  him,  the  sickness  of  some  of  his 
company,  and  of  his  son  in  particular,  but  above  all,  the 
difference  in  their  ways  of  worship,  which  could  not  but  be 
attended  with  great  inconveniency.     This  had  some  effect 
for  a  time ;  but  about  the  middle  of  December,  the  rebels, 
pursuant  to  orders  they  had  received  from  their  'council  of 
state  at  Kilkenny,  required  him  to  dismiss  the  people  that 
were  with  him,  which  he  absolutely  refused  to  do,  declar- 
ing that  he  would  share  the  same  fate  with  the  rest.     They 
signified  to  him  upon  this,  that  they  had  orders  to  remove 
him;  to  which  he  answered,  in  the  words  of  David,  "  Here 
I  am,  the  Lord  do  unto  me  as  seemeth  good  to  him ;  the 
will  of  the  Lord  be  done."     Upon  this  they  seized  him,  his 
two  sons,  and  Mr.  Clogy,  who  had  married  his  step-daugh- 
ter,  and  carried  them  prisoners  to  the  castle  of  Ciough- 
boughter,   surrounded  by  a  deep  water,    were   they  put 
them  all  but  the  bishop  in  irons;     They  did  not  suffer  any 
of  them  to  carry  any  thing  with  them;  and  the  moment  the 
bishop  was  gone,  Dr.  Swiney  took  possession  of  his  house 
and  ail  that  belonged  to  it,  and  said  mass  in  the  church  the 
Sunday  following.     After  some  time  the  rebels  abated  of 
their  severity^  took  the  irons  off  the  prisoners,  and  suffered 
them  to  be  as  much  at  their  ease  as  they  could  be  iu  so 
wretched  a  place ;   for  the  winter  was  very  rigorous,  and 
the  castle  being  old  and  ruinous,  they  would  have  been  ex- 
posed to  all  the  severity  of  the  weather,  if  it  had  not  been 
for  an  honest  carpenter  who  was  imprisoned  there  before 
them,  and  who  made  use  of  a  few  old  boards  he  found  there, 
to  mend  a  part  of  the  roof,  the  better  to  defend  them  from 
the  snow  and  sleet.     While  thus  confined,  the  bishop,  his 
sons,  and  Mr.  Clogy,  preached  and  prayed  continually  to 
their  small  and  afflicted  congregation,  and  upon  Christmas 
day  his  lordship  administered  the  sacrament  to  them.     It  is 
very  remarkable,  that  rude  and  barbarous  as  the  Irish  were, 
they  gave  them  no  disturbance  in  the  performance  of  divine 
service,  and  often  told  the  bishop  they  had  no  personal 
quarrel  to  him,  but  that  the  sole  cause  of  their  confining 
him  was,  his  being  an  Englishman.     After  being  kept  in 
this  manner,  for  three  weeks,  the  bishop,  his  two  sons,  an<J 
Mr.  Clogy,  were  exchanged  for  two  of  the  O'Rourkes ;  but 
though  it  was  agreed  that  they  should  be  safely  conducted 
to  Dublin,  yet  the  rebels  would  never  suffer  them  to  be 
carried  out  of  the  country,  but  sent  them  to  the  house  of 
Dennis  Sheridan,  an  Irish  minister,    and  convert  to  the 

2  2 


340  BEDELL. 

Protestant  religion,  to  which  though  tie  steadily  adhered, 
and  relieved  many  who  fled  to  him  fdr  protection,  yet  the 
Irish  suffered  him  to  live  quietly  among  them,  on  account 
of  the  great  family  from  which  he  was  descended.  While 
our  prelate  remained  there,  and  enjoyed  some  degree  of 
health,  he  every  Sunday  read  the  prayers  and  lessons,  and 
preached  himself,  though  there  were  three  ministers  with 
him.  Thfe  last  Sunday  he  officiated  was  the  30th  of  Jan. 
and  the  day  following  he  was  taken  ill.  On  the  second  day 
it  appeared  that  his  disease  was  an  ague ;  and  on  the  fourth, 
apprehending  a  speedy  change,  he  called  for  his  sons  and 
his  sons9  wives,  spoke  to  them  a  considerable  time,  gave 
them  much  spiritual  advice,  and  blessed  them,  after  Which, 
he  spoke  little,  but  slumbered  out  most  of  his  time,  only 
by  intervals  he  seemed  to  awake  a  little,  and  was  then  very 
cheerful.  At  length,  on  the  7th  of  February,  1641,  about 
midnight,  he  breathed  his  last,  in  the  seventy-first  year  of 
his  age,  his  death  being  chiefly  occasioned  by  his  late  im- 
prisonment, and  the  weight  of  sorrows  which  lay  upon  his 
mind.  The  only  care  now  remaining  to  his  friends  was,  to 
see  him  buried  according  to  his  desire ;  and  since  that 
could  not  be  obtained  but  by  the  new  intruding  bishop's 
leave,  Mr.  Clogy  arid  Mr.  Sheridan  went  to  ask  it,  and  Mr. 
Dillon  was  prevailed  with  by  his  wife,  to  go  and  second 
their  desire.  They  found  the  bishop  in  a  state  of  beastly 
intoxication,  and  a  melancholy  change  in  that  house,  which 
was  before  a  house  of  prayer.  The  bishop,  when  he  was 
awakened  out  of  his  drunkenness,  excepted  a  little  to  their 
request,  and  said  the  church-yard  was  holy  ground,  and 
was  no  more  to  be  defiled  with  heretics*  bodies ;  yet  he 
consented  to  it  at  last>  Accordingly,  February  9,  he  was 
buried  next  his  wife's  coffin.  The  Irish  did  him  unusual 
honours  at  his  burial,  for  the  chief  of  the  rebels  gathered 
their  forces  together,  and  with  them  accompanied  his  body 
from  Mr.  Sheridan's  house  to  the  church-yard  of  Kilmore  in 
great  solemnity,  and  they  desired  Mr.  Clogy  to  bury  hirij 
according  to  the  office  prescribed  by  the  church.  But 
though  the  gentlemen  were  so  civil  as  to  offer  it,  yet  it  was 
not  thought  advisable  to  provoke  the  rabble  so  much,  as 
perhaps  that  might  have  done  ;  so  it  was  passed  over.  But 
the  Irish  discharged  a  volley  of  shot  at  bis  interment,  and 
cried  out  in  Latin,  "  Requiescat  in  pace  ultimus  Anglo- 
rum," — c  May  the  last  of  the  English  rest  in  peace  ;'  for 
they  had  often  said,  that  as  they  esteemed  him  the  best  of 


BE  9  E  I  L.    ,  341 

the  English  bishops,  bo  he  should  be  the  last  that  jg^uld  bte 
left  among  them.  What  came  from  Edmupd  FariUy,  a  Po- 
pish priest,  at  the  interment  of  the  bishop,  is  too  remark- 
able, and  is  too  well  attested,  to  be  passed  over,  who  cried 
out,  "  O  sit  anima  mea  cum  Bedello," — 1 1  would  to  God 
4ny  soul  were  with  Bedell's.'  Our  prelate  had  long  before 
.prepared  for  death,  as  appears  by  his  will,  dated  the  15th  of 
February,  1640,  in  which  there  are  several  legacies,  that 
shew  he  had  recollected  all  the  memorable  passages  of  his 
life  before  he  made  it,  and  seriously  considered  the  several 
blessings  which  God  had  bestowed  upon  him.  He  married 
a  lady  of  the  ancient  and  honourable  family  of  L' Estrange, 
who  was  the  widow  of  the  recorder  of  St.  Edmundsbury,  a  x 
woman  .exemplary  in  her  life,  humble  and  modest  in  her 
behaviour,  and  singular  in  many  excellent  qualities,  parti- 
cularly in  an  extraordinary  reverence  to  him.  She  bore 
him  three  sons  and  a  daughter.  One  of  the  sons  and  the 
daughter  died  young ;  only  William  and  Ambrose  survived, 
for  whom  he  made  no  provision,  but  a  benefice  of  eighty 
pounds  a-year  for  the  eldest  and  worthy  son  of  such  a  fa- 
ther, and  an  estate  of  sixty  pounds  a-year  for  the  youngest, 
who  did  not  take  to  learning.  This  was  the  only  purchase 
he  made.  His  wife  died  three  years  before  the  rebellion 
broke  out,  and  he  preached  her  funeral  sermon  himself, 
with  such  a  mixture  both  of  tenderness  and  moderation, 
that  he  drew  tears  from  all  his  auditors.  He  was  an  enemy 
to  burying  in  the  church,  thinking  thatf  there  was  both  su- 
perstition and  pride  in  it,  and  believing  it  was  a  great  an- 
noyance to  the  living,  to  have  so  much  of  the  steam  of  dead 
bodies  rising  about  them.  One  of  the  canons  in  his  synod 
was  against  burying  in  churches,  and  he  often  wished  that 
burying- places  were  removed  out  of  all  towns.  He  chose 
the  lease  frequented  place  of  the  church-yard  of  Kilmore 
for  bis  wife  to  lie  in,  and  by  his  will  ordered,  that  he  should 
be  placed  nqptt  to  her,  with  this  inscription  : 

"  Depositum  Guliehni  quondam  Episcopi  Kilmorensis." 

The  character  given  of  this  amiable  prelate  in  Burnet's 
life,  drawn  up  partly  by  Burnet,  and  partly  by  his  son-in- 
law  Mr.  Clogy,  is  highly  interesting.  Bishop  Bedell  was 
tall  and  graceful,  and  had  something  in  his  looks  and  car- 
riage that  created  a  veneration  for  him.  His  deportment 
was  grave  without  affectation ;  his  apparel  decent  with 
simplicity;  }ie  wore  no  silks,  but  plain  stuffs;   and  had  a 


U2  BEDELL. 

,  •  r  • 

long  and  broad  beard,  and  grey  and  venerable  hair.  His 
strength  continued  firm  to  the  last,  so  that  the  week  before 
his  last  sickness,  he  walked  as  vigorously  and  nimbly  as  any 
of  the  company,  and  leaped  over  a  broad  ditch,  insomuch 
that  his  sons,'  who  were  amazed  at  it,  had  enough  to  do  to 
follow  him.  He  never  used  spectacles.  By  a  fall  in  his 
childhood  he  had  unhappily  contracted  a  deafness  in  his, 
left  ear.  He  had  great  strength  and  health  of  body,  ex- 
cepting that  a  few  years  before  his  death  he  had  some  se- 
vere fits  of  the  stone,  occasioned  by  his  sedentary  life, 
which  he  bore  with  wonderful  patience.  The  remedy  he 
used  for  it  was  to  dig  in  the  garden  (in  which  he  much 
delighted)  until  he  heated  himself,  and  that  mitigated  the 
pain.  His  judgment  and  memory  remained  with  him  to 
the  last.  He  always  preached  without  notes,  but  often 
wrote  down  his  meditations  after  he  had  preached  them. 
He  Shewed  no  other  learning  in  his  sermons  but  in  clearing 
the  difficulties  of  his  text,  by  comparing  the  originals  with 
the  most  ancient  versions. 

His  style  was  clear  and  full,  but  plain  and  simple.  He 
read  the  Hebrew  and  Septuagint  so  much,  that  they  were 
as  familiar  to  him  as  the  English  translation.  He  had 
gathered  a  vast  heap  of  critical  expositions,  which,  with 
a  trunk  full  of  other  manuscripts,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Irish,  and  were  all  lost,  except  his  great  Hebrew  manu- 
script, which  was  preserved  by  a  converted  Irishman,  and 
is  now  in  Emanuel  college,  in  Cambridge.  Every  day 
after  dinner  and  supper  a  chapter  of  the  Bible  was  read  at 
his  table,  whether  Papists  or  Protestants  were  present ; 
and  Bibles  were  laid  before  every  one  of  the  company,  and 
before  himself  either  the  Hebrew  or  the  Greek,  but  in  his 
last  years,  the  Irish  translation  ;  and  he  usually  explained 
the  occurring  difficulties.  He  wrote  much  in  controversy, 
occasioned  by  his  engagements  to  labour  the  conversion  of 
those  of  the  Roman  communion,  which  he  looked  on  as 
idolatrous  and  antichristian.  He  wrote  a  large  treatise  on 
these  two  questions :  "  Where  was  our  religion  before 
Luther?  And  what  became  of  our  ancestors  who  died  in  Po- 
pery ?"  Archbishop  Usher  pressed  him  to  have  printed  it, 
and  he  resolved  to  have  done  so ;  but  that  and  all  his  other 
works  were  swallowed  up  in  the  rebellion.      He  kept  a 

f'tpat  correspondence  not  only  with  the  divines  of  E,ng- 
and,  but  with  others  over  Europe.     He  observed  a  true 
hospitality  in  house-keeping ;  and  many  poor  Irish  families 


BEDELL.  343 

t  « 

about  him  were  maintained  out  of  his  kitchen .;  and  in 
Christmas  the  poor  always  eat  with  him  at  his  own  table, 
and  he  had  brought  himself  to  endure  both  their  rags  and 
Tudeness/  At  public  tables  he  usually  sat  silent.  Once 
at  the  earl  of  Strafford's  table,  one  observed,  that  while 
they  were  alt  talking,  he  said  nothing.  The  primate  an- 
swered, "  Broach  him,  and  you  will  find  good  liquor  iti 
him."  Upon  which  the  person  proposed  a  question  in 
divinity,  in  answering  which  the  bishop  shewed  his  abilities 
so  well,  and  puzzled  the  other  so  much,  that  all,  at  last, 
except  the  bishop,  fell  a  laughing  at  the  other.  The 
greatness  of  his  mind,  and  undauntedness  of  his  spirit, 
evidently  appeared  in  many  passages  of  his  life,  and  that 
without  any  mixture  of  pride,  for  he  lived  with  his  clergy 
as  if  they  had  been  his  brethren.  In  his  visitation  he  would 
accept  of  no  invitation  from  the  gentlemen  of  the  country, 
but  would  eat  with  his  clergy  in  such  poor  inns,  and  of 
such  coarse  fare,  as  the  places  afforded.  He  avoided  all 
affectation  of  state  in  his  carriage,  and,  when  in  Dublin, 
always  walked  on  "foot,  attended  by  one  servant,  except 
on  public  occasions,  which  obliged  him  to  ride  in  proces- 
sion among  his  brethren.  He  never  kept  a  coach,  his 
strength  suffering  him  always  to  ride  on  horseback.  He 
avoided  the  affectation  of  humility  as  well  as  pride ;  the 
former  often  flowing  from  the  greater  pride  of  the  two. 
He  took  an  ingenious  device  to  put  him  in  mind  of  his 
obligations  to  purity  :  it  was  a  flaming  crucible,  with  this 
motto :  "  Take  from  me  all  my  Tin,"  the  word  in  Hebrew 
signifying  Tin,  being  Bedil,  which  imported  that  he  thought, 
everything  in  him  but.  base  alloy,  and  therefore  prayed 
God-  would  cleanse  him  from  it.  He  never  thought  of 
changing*  his  see,  but  considered  himself  as  under  a  tie  to 
it  that  could  not  easily  be  dissolved ;  so  that  when  the 
translating  him  to  a  bishopric  in  England  was  proposed  to 
him,  he  refused  it ;  and  said,  he  should  be  as  troublesome 
a  bishop  in  England  as  he  had  been  in  Ireland.  He  had 
a  true  and  gernerous  notion  of  religion,  and  did  not  look 
upon  it  as  a  system  of  opinions,  or  a  set  of  forms,  but  as  a 
divine  discipline  that  reforms  the  heart  and  life.  It  was 
not  leaves,  but  fruit  that  he  sought.  This  was  the  true 
principle  of  his  great  zeal  against  Popery.  He  considered 
the  -corruptions  of  that  church  as  an  effectual  course  to 
enervate  the  true  design  of  Christianity.     He  looked  on 


ft*  BEDUL 

the  pblig^tipp  of  observing  the  Sfi&bfrtk,  as  mpraj  »p4.pWT+ 
petual,  and  was  most  exact  in  the  observation  of  it. * 

BEDERIC  (He.\ry),  a  celebrated  preacher  in  the  four;-' 
teenth  century *  was  a  monk  of  the  order  of  St.  Augustip 
at  Clare,  and  surnamed  de  Bury,  because  he  was  born  at  St. 
Edmund's  Bury,  in  Suffolk.  Having  from  his  youth  shewn 
^  quick  capacity,  and  a  great  inclination  to  learning,  hifc 
superiors  took  care  to  improve  these  excellent  faculties, 
by  sending  him  not  only  to  our  English,  but  also  to  foreign 
universities ;  where  closely  applying  himself  to  his  studies, 
and  being  a  constant  disputanjt,  he  acquired  such  fame, 
that  at  Paris  he  became  a  doctor  of  the  Sorbonne.  Not 
long  after  he  returned  to  England,  where  he  was  much 
followed,  and  extremely  admired  for  his  eloquent  way  of 
preaching.  This  qualification,  joined  to  his  remarkable 
integrity,  uprightness,  and  dexterity  in  the  management 
of  affairs,  so  recommended  him  to  the  esteem  of  the  world, 
that  he  was  chosen  provincial  of  his  order  throughout  Eng- 
land, in  which  station  he  behaved  in  a  very  commendable 
manner.  He  wrote  several  things,  as:  1.  "  Lectures 
upon  the  master  of  the  sentences,  i.  e.  Petet  Lombard,  in 
four  books."  2.  "  Theological  Questions,"  in  one  book. 
3.  "  Sermons  upon  the  blessed  Virgin."  4.  "  A  course  of 
sermons  for  the  whole  year.  Besides  several  other  things 
of  which  no  account  is  given.  He  flourished  about  the 
year  1380,  in  the  reign  of  Richard  II.  * 

BEDFORD  (Arthur),  a  pious  and  learned  clergyman 
of  the  church  of  England,  and  many  years  chaplain  to  the 
Haberdashers'  hospital  at  Hoxton,  was  the  son  of  Richard 
Bedford,  and  was  born  at  Tiddenham,  in  Gloucestershire, 
Sept.  1668.  Having  received  the  rudiments  of  learning 
from  his  father,  he  was  in  1684,  at  the  age  of  sixteen, 
admitted  commoner  of  Brasen-nose  college,  Oxford,  where 
he  acquired  some  reputation  as  an  Orientalist.  He  be- 
came B.A.  in  Feb.  1687,  and  M.A.  July,  1691.  In  168S 
he  received  holy  orders  from  Dr.  Frampton,  bishop  of 
Gloucester,  and  about  this  time  removed  to  Bristol,  and 
became  curate  to  Dr.  Read,  rector  of  St.  Nicholas  church* 
with  whom  he  continued  till  1692,  when,  having  tak^r* 
priest's  orders  from  Dr.  Hall,  bishop  of  Bristol,  the  mayor 
and  corporation  of  the  city  presented  him  to  the  vicarage 

i  Life  by  Burnet,  1685,  8vo,  bishop  Rennet's  and  Dr.  Farmer's  copies  p.  nv 
with  MS  notes.-r-Birch'*  Prince  Henry.  - 

«  Bale.— Pitts.— Biog.  Brit 


3  E  D  F  O  R  P.  M$ 

of -Temple,  church.  From  this  be  wa?  removed  to  Newton 
St,  Loe,  a  private  living  in  Somersetshire,  soon  after 
which,  as  he  himself  informs  us,  he  was  prompted  to  un- 
dertake a  work  on  "  Scripture  Chronology,"  by  reading 
over  the  preface  to  Abp.  Usher's  Annals,  in  which  the  primate 
gave  his  opinion  concerning  a  more  exact  method  of  "  A, 
chronological  system  of  the  sacred  Scriptures,  by  the  help 
of  astronomy  and  a  competent  skill  in  the  Jewish  learning/9 
After  many  difficulties,  Mr.  Bedford  flattered  himself  that 
he  had  succeeded,  and  then  digested  his  thoughts  into 
some  method.  Soon  after  this,  coming  to  London,  to  as- 
sist in  the  correction  of  the  Arabic  Psalter  and  New  Tes- 
tament, for  the  benefit  of  the  poor  Christians  in  Asia,  he 
shewed  his  thoughts  to  some  friends,  who  advised  him  to 
publish  them  ;  with  which  he  complied,  with  a  design  not 
to  have  exceeded  fourscore  or  an  hundred  pages  in  the 
whole.  A  few  sheets  were  printed  off,  but  the  author  having 
received  information  that  a  work  of  a  similar  nature  warn 
intended  to  be  published  from  the  papers  of  sir  Isaac 
Newton,  and  being  advised  by  some  friends,  contrary  to 
his  first  intention,  to  publish  the  work  on  a  more  extensive 
plan,  he  suppressed  his  papers.  In  the  mean  time,  in 
1724,  he  was  chosen  chaplain  to  Haberdashers  hospital, 
(founded  in  1690,  by  alderman  Aske),  and  continued  to 
reside  there  for  the  remainder  of  his  life.  In  1728  he 
published  "  Animadversions  upon  sir  Isaac  Newton's  book 
entitled  The  chronology  of  Ancient  Kingdoms  amended/' 
8vo,  in  which  he  attempts  to  prove  that  sir  Isaac's  system 
entirely  contradicts  the  scripture  history,  and  he  appeals, 
as  his  supporters  in  this  opinion,  to  Bochart,  Dr.  Prideaux, 
archbishop  Usher,  and  the  bishops  Lloyd,  Cumberland, 
Beveridge,  &c. 

Two  years  afterwards,  he  published  a  sermon  (from 
2  Tim.  ii.  16.)  at  St.  Botqlph's,  Aldgate,  where  he  was 
afternoon  lecturer*  against  the  then  newly-erected  play- 
house in  Goodman's  fields.  This  was  a  favourite  subject 
with  Mr.  Bedford,  who,  in  other  of  his  publications,  proved 
an  able  assistant  to  Mr.  Collier,  in  his  attempt  to  reform 
the  stage.  He  began,  indeed,  in  this  necessary  labour, 
many  years  before  coming  to  London,  as  will  appear  by 
our  list  of  bis  works.  He  continued  in  his  office  of  chap- 
lain to  the  hospital,  until  17^5,  when  he  died,  Sept.  15, 
and  was  buried  in  the  ground  behind  the  hospital,  pro- 
bably at  his  owp  desire.    Tradition  informs  us  his  death 


346 


BEDFORD. 


was  occasioned  by  a  fall  whilst  making  observations  on  the 
comet  of  that  year,  an  accident  which  was  very  likely  to 
prove  fatal  to  a  man  in  his  seventy -seventh  year.  He  fur- 
nished the  hall  of  the  hospital,  where  the  pensioners  as- 
semble, with  some  pious  works,  chained,  in  the  old  library 
manner,  to  the  windows,  and,  as  appears  by  his  writings, 
was  a  man  of  unfeigned  piety  and  zeal.  These  writings 
are  :  1.  "  Serious  reflections,  on  the  scandalous  abuse  and 
effects  of  the  Stage,  a  sermtfh,"  Bristol,  1705,  with  a  long 
preface.  2.  "  A  second  advertisement  concerning  the 
Play-house,1'  ibid.  8vo.  3.  "  The  evil  and  danger  of  Stage 
Plays,"  ibid.  1706,  8vo,  a  most  curious  work,  but  much 
enlarged  in  the  subsequent  edition.  3.  "  The  temple  of 
Music,"  Lond.  1706,  8vo.  4.  "  The  great  abuse  of 
Music,"  ibid.  1711,  8vo,  in  which  he  examines  all  the 
series  of  English  songs,  pointing  out  their  impious  or  im- 
moral passages,  concluding  with  a  Gloria  Patri  set  to  mu- 
sic, apparently  by  himself,  in  four  parts.  5.  "  Essay  on 
singing  David's  psalms,"  1708.  6,  His  "JEvil  of  Stage- 
plays"  republished  under  the  title  of  "  A  serious  remon- 
strance in  behalf  of  the  Christian  Religion,  against  the 
horrid  blasphemies  and  impieties  which  are  still  used  in 
the  English  Playhouses,  &c."  In  this  he  has  so  completely 
perused  the  whole  range  of  the  English  drama,  as  to  pro- 
duce "  seven  thousand  instances,  taken  out  of  plays  of  the 
present  century,  and  especially  of  the  last  five  years,  in 
defiance  of  all  methods  hitherto  used  for  their  reformation ;" 
and  he  has  also  giverTa  catalogue  of  "  above  fourteen 
hundred  texts  of  scripture,  which  are  mentioned,  either 
as  ridiculed  and  exposed  by  the  stage,  or  as  opposite  to 
their  present  practices."  7.  "  Animadversions  on  sir 
Isaac  Newton,"  mentioned  above.  8.  "  Scripture  Chro- 
nology, demonstrated  by  astronomical  calculations,  in 
eight  books,"  ibid.  1741,  fol.  which 'Dr.  Waterland  justly 
characterises  as  a  very  learned  and  elaborate  work. 
9.  "  Eight  sermons  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  at  lady 
Moyer's  lecture,"  ibid.  1741,  8vo.  10.  "  The  dpctrine  of 
Justification  by  Faith  stated  according  to  the  articles  of  the 
church  of  England.  Contained  in  nine  questions  and 
answers,"  ibid.  1741,  8vo.  11.  "  Horse  Mathematics* 
Vacua?,-  or  a  treatise  of  the  Golden  and  Ecliptick  Num- 
bers," ib.  1743,  8vo.  The  original  MS. of  this  work,  which 
was  written  during  an  illness  which  deprived  him  of  the 
use  of  bis  limbs,  is  now  preserved  in  Sion  college  library. 


BEDFORD.  347 

He  published  also  several  single  sermons,    preached  on 
public  occasions. 1 

BEDFORD  (Hilkiah),  of  Sibsey,  in  Lincolnshire,  a 
quaker,  came  to  London,  and  settled  there  as  a  stationer 
between  the  years  160Q  and  1625.  He  married  a  daughter 
of  Mr.  William  Plat,  of  Highgate,  by  whom  he  had  a  son, 
Hilkiah,  a  mathematical  instrument  maker  in  Hosier-lane, 
near  West- Smithfield.  In  this  house  (which  was  after- 
wards burnt  in  the  great  fire  of  London,  1666),  was  bom 
the  famous  Hilkiah,  July  23,  1663  ;  who  was  educated  at 
Bradley,  in  Suffolk,  and  in  1679  was  admitted  of  St.  John's 
college,  Cambridge,  the  first  scholar  on  the  foundation  of 
his  maternal  grandfather,  William  Plat.  Hilkiah  was  af- 
terwards elected  fellow  of  his  college,  and  patronized  by 
Heneage  Finch  earl  of  Winchelsea,  but  deprived  of  his 
preferment  (which  was  in  Lincolnshire),  for  refusing  t6 
take  the  oaths  at  the  revolution,  and  afterwards  kept  a 
boarding-house  for  the  Westminster  scholars.  In  1714, 
being  tried  in  the  court  of  king's-bencb,  he  was  fined 
1000  marks,  and  imprisoned  three  years,  for  writing, 
printing,  and  publishing  "The  hereditary  Right  of  the 
Crown  of  England  asserted,"  1713,  folio;  the  real  author 
of  which  was  George  Harbin,  a  nonjuring  clergyman,  whom 
his  friendship  thus  screened ;  and  on  account  of  his  suf- 
ferings he  received  100/.  from  the  late  lord  Weymouth, 
who  knew  not  the  real  author.  His  other  publications 
were,  a  translation  of  "  An  answer  to  Fontenelle's  History 
of  Oracles,"  and  the  translation  of  the  life  of  Dr.  Barwick, 
as  noticed  in  the  life  of  that  gentleman.  He  died  Nov.  26, 
1724,  and  was  buried  in  the  church-yard  of  St.  Margaret's 
Westminster,  with  an  epitaph.  * 

BEDFORD  (Thomas),  second  son  of  Hilkiah,  was  edu- 
cated at  Westminster- school ;  and  was  afterwards  admitted 
of  St.  John's  college,  Cambridge ;  became  master's  sizar 
to  Dr.  Robert  Jeukin,  the  master;  and  was  matriculated 
Dec.  9,  1730.  Being  a  nonjuror,  he  never  took  a  degree; 
but  going  into  orders  in  that  party,  officiated  amongst  the 
people  of  that  mode  of  thinking  in  Derbyshire,  fixing  his 
residence  at  Compton,  near  Ashbourne,  where  he  became 
much  acquainted  with  Ellis  Farneworth  ;  and  was  reputed 
a  good  scholar.     Having  some  original  fortune,  and  withal 

»  Ellis's  Hist,  of  Shoreditch.— Republic  of  Letters,  rols.  II.  HI.  VI. 
»  Nichols's  Life  of  Bowyer.— Cole's  MS  Athens  in  Brit.  Mui. 


ft?  BEDFORD. 

being  *  very  frugal  man,  aud  making  also  tfce  vctojst  of  his 
money  for  a  length  of  years,  Mr.  Bedford  died  rich  at 
Comjrton,  in  Feb.  1773,  where  he  was  well  respected. 
Haying  a  sister  married  to  George  Smith,  esq.  near  Dur- 
ham (who  published  his  father  Dr.  John  Smith's  fine  edition 
of  Bede),  Mr.  Bedford  went  into  the  north,   and  there 

{prepared  his  edition  of  "  Symeonis  jponacbi  Dunhelmensis 
ibelUis  de  exordio  atque  pjrocursu  Duahelmensis  eccle- 
si«;"  with  a  continuation  to  1154,  and  an  account  of  the 
hard  usage  bishop  William  received  from  Rufus  j  which 
Was  printed  by  subscription  in  1732,  8vo,  from  a  very  va- 
luable and  beautiful  MS.  in  the  cathedral  library,  which 
he  supposes  to  he  either  the  original,  or  copied  in  the  au- 
thor's life-time.  He  wa$  residing  at  Ashbourne  in  1742, 
when  be  published  an  Historical  Catechism,  the  second 
edition,  corrected  and  enlarged.  The  first  edition  was 
taken  from  abbe*  Fleury  ;  but  as  this  second  varied  so  much 
from  that  author,  Bedford  left  out  his  name. l 

BEDLOE  (Capt.  William),  better  known  on  account 
of  his  actions  than  his  writings,  haying  been  a  principal. and 
useful  evidence  in  the  discovery  in  the  popish  plot,  in  the 
reign  of  Charles  II.  See  the  Eng.  Hist,  for  that  period ; 
and  the  "  Life  of  capt  Bedloe,"  which  contains  nothing 
extraordinary  but  the  aforesaid  discovery,  written  by  an 
.  unknown  hand,  and  published  1681,  8vo.  He  was  an  in- 
famous adventurer  of  low  birth,  who  had  travelled  over  a 
Sreat  part  of  Europe,  under  different  names,  as  well  a* 
isguise*.  Encouraged  by  the  success  of  Oates,  he  turned 
evidence,  and  gave  an  account  of  Godfrey's  murdq^,  to 
which  he  added  many  circumstances  of  villainy.  A  reward 
of  500/.  was  voted  to  him  by  the  commons.  He  is  said  to 
have  asserted  the  reality  of  the  plot  on  his  de^ath-bed ;  but 
it  abounds  with  absurdity,  contradiction,  and  perjury; 
and  still  remains  one  of  the  greatest  problems  in  the  British 
annals.  He  died  Aug.  20,  1680,  Jacob  informs  us,  he 
wrote  a  play  called  the  "  Excommunicated  Prince," 
printed  1679,  but  Wood  says  it  was  written  by  one  Thonup 
Walter,  M.  A.  of  Jesus  college,  Oxford.  * 

BEDRASCHI,  the  rabbi  Jedaia,  son  of  Ahrahan% 
called  also  Happen ini  Aubonet-Abram,  but  better  known 
by  the  name  of  Bedraschi,  is  supposed  to  have  been  a  na- 

1  Nichols's  life  of  Bowyer.~«Cole's  MS  Athene  in  Brit  Mas. 
•  Biog.  Dram.— Jacob's  Lives,  '  . 


B  £  I)  ft  A  S  C  H  I.  $4# 

five  6f  Languedoc,  and  flourished  in  Spairi  towards  the 
close  of  the  thirteenth  centufy.  He  left  several  Hebrew 
works,  the  principal  of  which,  written  at  Barcelona  iii 
1298,  is  entitled  "  Bechinat-Olem,"  or  an  examination 
Or  appreciation  of  the  world,  and  was  printed  at  Mantua, 
hi  1476,  at  Soncino  in  1484,  at  Cracow  in  1591,  at 
Prague  in  1598,  and  at  Furth  in  1807,  with  a  German 
translation.  Uchtmann  also  published  a  Latin  translation 
at  Leyden  in  1630,  and  a  French  translation  was  published 
at  Paris  in  1629,  by  Philip  d' Aquino.  M.  Michel  Berr,  a. 
Jew  of  Nanci,  published  at  Metz  in  1708  another  transla- 
tion, on  which  M.  Sylvestre  de  Sacy  wrote  many  valuable 
remarks  in  the  "  Magazin  Encyclopedique."  Bedraschi'si 
work  is  a  mixture  of  poetry,  theology,  philosophy,  and 
morals.  His  style  is  somewhat  obscure,  but  the  numerous 
editions  and  translations  of  his  work  form  no  inconsiderable 
evidence  of  its  merit.  * 

BEEK.     SeeBEK. 

BEGA  (CouNELitrs),  an  artist,  the  son  of  Peter  IJegyn, 
a  sculptor,  was  born  at  Haerlem,  in  1620,  and  was  the 
disciple  of  Adrian  Ostade.  If  he  did  not  equal  his  master, 
he  was  at  least  the  best  of  his  disciples.  He  set  out  in  his 
profession  with  credit,  and  proceeded  in  it  for  some  years 
With  sufficient  success ;  but  he  grew  too  fond  of  a  dissi- 
pated life,  and  at  last  his  morals  were  so  depraved,  that  his 
father,  after  many  ineffectual  remonstrances,  disowned 
him.  For  this  reason  he  cast  off  his  father's  name,  and  as- 
sumed that  of  Bega ;  his  early  pictures  being  marked  with 
the  former,  and  his  latter  works  with  the  other.  He  had 
a  fine  pencil,  and  a  transparent  colour ;  and  his  perform- 
ances are  placed  among  the  works  of  the  best  artists.  He 
took  the  plague  from  a  woman  with  whom  he  was  deeply 
enamoured  ;  and  he  shewed  so  much  sincerity  of  affection, 
that,  notwithstanding  the  expostulations  of  all  his  friends 
and  physicians,  he  would  attend  her  to  the  last  moments 
of  her  life,  and  imbibed  from  her  the  same  fatal  distemper, 
of  which  he  died  in  a  few  days  after  her,  Aug.  27,  1664. 
He  is  also  classed  among  engravers,  having  etched  several 
drolleries,  and  a  set  of  thirty-four  prints,  representing  ale- 
house scenes,  &c.  * 

BEGER  or  BOEGER  (Lawrence),  the  son  of  a  tanner, 
was  born  at  Heidelberg,  April  19,  1653,  and  received  an 

»  Diet.  Hilt.  ?  Pilkington.— Strutt.— Descamps,  vol  II. 


950  BEG  E  R. 

education  suitable  to  his  promising  talents.  In  compliance 
with  his  father's  request,  he  studied  divinity,  but  after  his 
death  indulged  his  own  inclination,  by  studying  law.  In 
1677,  when  he  was  twenty- four  years  of  age,  Charles 
Louis,  elector  palatine,  appointed  him  his  librarian,  and 
keeper  of  his  museum.  Beger  retained  those  stations 
until  1685,  when  Charles,  the  son  and  successor  of  Charles 
Louis,  being  dead,  the  library  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
landgrave  of  Hesse-Cassel,  and  the  museum  went  to  the 
elector  of  Brandenburgh.  The  latter,  Frederick  William, 
engaged  Beger  in  his  service,  gave  him  the  rank  of  coun- 
sellor, and  appointed  him  to  the  care  of  his  library  and 
medals,  a  post  which  he  likewise  filled  under  his  successor, 
until  his  death,  April  21,  1705.  Hfe  had  been  a  member 
of  the  society  of  Berlin  from  its  foundation.  He  left  a 
great  many  works,  the  principal  of  which  are  :  1.  "The- 
saurus ex  Thesauro  Palatino  selectus*  seu  Gemmae,"  Hei- 
delberg, 1685,  fol.  2.  "  Spicilegium  antiquitatis,"  1692, 
folio.  3.  "  Thesaurus,  sive  Gemmae,  Numismata,"  &c. 
1696,  and  1791,  3  vols.  fol.  4.  "  Regum  et  Imperatorum 
Romanorum  Numismata,    a  Rubenio  edita,"    1700,    fol. 

5.  "  De  nummis   Cretensium  serpen  tiferis,"    1702,   fol. 

6.  "  Lucernae   sepulchrales   J.  P.  Bellorii,"    1702,    fol. 

7.  lc  Numismata   Pontificum   Romanorum,"    1703,    fol. 

8.  "  Excidium  Trojanum,"  Berlin,  1699,  4to,  &c.  Beger 
composed  a  work  to  authorise  polygamy,  at  the  request  of 
Charles  'Louis,  elector  palatine,  who  was  desirous  of  mar- 
rying his  mistress  in  the  life-time  of  his  first  wife  ;  but  he 
refuted  it  after  the  death  of  that  prince;  The  refutation, 
however,  never  appeared.  The  book  that  gave  occasion 
to  it  was  entitled  "  Considerations  on  Marriage,  by  Daph- 
naeus  Arcuarius,"  in  German,  4to.  * 

BEGON  (Michael),  born  at  Blois  in  1638,  of  a  family" 
of  distinction,  in  the  former  part  of  his  life  filled  some  of 
the  first  offices  of  the  law,  and  soon  distinguished  himself 
by  the  acuteness  of  his  penetration,  and  his  attention  to 
method.  The  marquis  de  Seignelei,  his  kinsman,  having 
induced  him  to  enter  the  marine,  he  successively  filled 
the  place  of  intendant  of  the  French  West  India  islands, 
of  the  gallies  of  Havre,  and  Canada,  and  of  those  of  Roche- 
fort  and  la  Rcchelle,  till  1710,  when  he  died,  the  14th  of 
March,  much  regretted.     The  people  loved  hjoi  as  a  dis- 

1  Moreri.— Diet.  Hist.— Saxii  Onomast 


B.EGON,  351 

interested  officer,  and  the  citizens  as  their  friend  and  be-* 
nef actor.  The  learned  were  not  less  warm  in  their  praises 
of  one  who  protected  and  encouraged  them,  took  a  lively 
interest  in  their  prosperity,  and  kept  his  library  open  lor 
their  use.  He  had  an  excellent  taste  in  the  choice  of  his 
books.  He  possessed  a  rich  cabinet  of  medals,  antiques, 
prints,  shells,  and  other  curiosities,  collected  from  tne  lour 
quarters  of  the  world.  His  books  were  generally  marked 
in  front  with  the  words  "  Michaelis  Begon  et  amicorutn." 
His  librarian  having  once  represented  to  trim,  that  by  let- 
ting every  body  have  access  to  them,  he  would  lose  several 
of  them :  he  very  liberally  replied,  "  I  had  much  rather 
lose  my  books,  than  seem  to  distrust  an  honest  man."  He 
caused  to  ba  engraved  the  portraits  of  several  celebrated 
persons  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  collected  memoirs 
of  their  lives  ;  from  which  materials  Perrault  composed  his 
history  of  the  illustrious  men  of  France. ' 

BEGUILLET  or  BEGUILLER  (Edmund),  an  advo- 
cate of  the  parliament  of  Dijon,  and  afterwards  a  notary, 
and  a  corresponding  member  of,  the  French  academy  of 
belles-lettres,  derived  considerable  reputation  from  some 
Works  which  he  published   on  domestic  oeconomics  and 
Agriculture.      He   is   also   the  author  of  some  historical 
pieces,  but  they  have  been  thought  inferior  to  the  others. 
We  have  no  other  memoranda  of  his  life,  than  that  he  died 
in   May  1786.     He  published:   I.  "  Des  principes  de  la 
vegetation  et  de  P agriculture,"   1769,  8vo.     2.  "  Memoire 
sur  les  avantages  de  la  mouture  economique,  et  du  com- 
merce des  farines  en  detail,"  8vo.     3.  "  CEnologie,   ou 
Traite*  de  la  vigne  et  des  vins,"   1770,   12mo.     4.  "Dis- 
sertation sur  Tergot,  ou  ble*  cornu,"  1771,  4to.    5.  "  Traite* 
de  la  connoissance  generale  des  grains,"  1775,  3  vols.  8vo, 
and  4to.     Among  other  curious  things  in  this  work,  which 
is  accompanied  with  cuts  well  coloured,  there  is  a  memoir, 
transmitted  from  Pekin,  relative  to  the  Chinese  method  of 
'  preserving  corn,  and  the  laws  of  their  police  with  respect 
to  that  article.    It  contains  also  many  useful  remarkson  the 
subject,    although  not  always  happily  or   concisely  ex- 
pressed.    6.  "  Manuel  du  meunier  et  du  charpentier  des 
Moulins,"   1785,  8vo,  taken  in  a  great  measure  from  the 
memoirs  of  Cesar  Bucquet.     7.  "  Traite*  general  des  sub- 
sistaaces  et  des  grains/*  1782,   6  vols.  8vo.     Beguillet 

l  Moreri^—Dict  Hist,  - 


it*  B  £  G  tS  t  L  L  E  T. 

wrote  also  is  Histoire  des  guerresdes  deux  Bourgogne*/* 
under  the  reign  of  Lewis  XIII.  and  XI V,  1772,  2  vols, 
12 mo.  "  Precis  de  P  Histoire  de  Bourgogne,"  8vo.  "  De- 
scription generale  du  duche  de  Bourgogne,"  6  vols.  8vo, 
written  in  part  by  the  abbe*  Courte'pee;  and  several  articles 
ih  the  Encyclopedia.  In  conjunction  with  Poncelin,  he 
also  published  "  Histoire  de  Paris,  avec  la  description  de* 
ses  plus  beaux  moriumens,"  Paris,  J780,  3  vols.  8VO.,1 

BEHAM  (Hans  or  John  Sebald),  an  engraver  of  Nu- 
remberg, who  flourished  about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  was  either  instructed,  or  became  an  imitator  of 
Henry  Aldegrever,  and  Albert  Durer,  and  like  them,  en- 
graved on  wood  as  well  as  copper,  and  also  etched  some 
few  plates  ;  but  these  last,  by  far  the  most  indifferent,  are 
also  the  smallest  part  of  his  works.  If  his  style  of  engraving 
be  not  original,  it  is  at  least  an  excellent  and  spirited  imi- 
tation of  that  which  was  adopted  by  the  preceding  masters 
of  the  country  in  which  he  resided.  His  pictures,  for  he 
was  a  painter,  as  well  as  his  engravings,  were  held  in  such 
fiigh  estimation,  that  the  poets  of  that  age  celebrated  him 
in  their  poems,  calling  him  in  Latin,  Bohemus.  He  was 
certainly  a  man  of  much  genius,  and  possessed  great  fer- 
tility of  invention.  But  the  Gothic  taste  which  so  ge- 
nerally prevailed  in  Germany  at  this  time,  is  much  too 
prevalent  in  his  works.  His  draperies  are  stiff,  and  loaded 
with  a  multiplicity  of  short,  inelegant  folds.  His  drawing 
of  the  naked  figure,  which  he  is  fond  of  introducing, 
though  mannered,  is  often  very  correct,  and  sometimes 
masterly.  His  heads,  and  the  other  extremities  of  his 
figures,  are  carefully  determined,  and  often  possess  much 
merit.  Of  his  numerous  works,  the  following  may  be 
mentioned  as  specimens;  on  wood,  a  set  of  prints  for  a 
book  entitled  "  Biblicae  Historian  artificiossissimae  depictae," 
Francfort,  1537;  and  on  copper,  "  History  of  the  creation 
and  fall  of  man  :,f  "  The  labours  of  Hercules :"  "  The 
virtues  and  vices,"  &c.  He  had  a  brother,  Bartholomew 
Beham,  who  resided  principally  at  Rome.  He  was  also . 
an  engraver,  and  from  such  of  his  prints  as  have  been  as- 
certained, which  is  somewhat  difficult,  he  appears  to  have 
been  a  very  excellent  artist,  and  one  of  the  superior 
scholars  of  Marc  Antonio,  whose  style  of  engraving  he 
imitated  with  great  success.     His  drawing  is  correct  and 

*  Diet  Hist— Moath.  Rev.  LIV.  p.  395. 


B  E  H  A  M.  355 

masterly ;  his  beads  are  characteristic!  and  the  other  ex- 
tremities of  his  figures  well  marked.1 

BEHEM  (Martin),  otherwise  Behaim,  Boshm,  or  Be* 
HENIRA,  an  eminent  geographer  and  mathematician  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  was  born  at  Nuremberg,  an  imperial 
city  in  the  circle  of  Franconia,  of  a  .noble  family,  not  yet 
extinct.  He  had  the  best  education  which  the  darkness  of 
that  age  permitted,  and  his  early  studies  were  principally 
directed  to  geography,  astronomy,  and  navigation.  As 
he  advanced  in  life,  he  often  thought  of  the  existence  of 
the  antipodes,  and  of  a  western  continent,  of  which  he  was 
ambitious  to  make  the  discovery. 

Filled  with  this  great  idea,  in  1459  he  paid  a  visit  to 
Isabella,  daughter  of  John  I.  king  of  Portugal,  at  that  time 
regent  of  the  duchy  of  Burgundy  and  Flanders;  and  having 
informed  her  of  his  designs,  he  procured  a  vessel,  in 
which,  sailing  westward,  he  was  the  first  European  who  is 
known  to  have  landed  on  the  island  of  Fayal.  He  there 
established  in  1460  a  colony  of  Flemings,  whose  descen- 
dants yet  exist  in  the  Azores,  which  were  for  some  time 
called  the  Flemish  islands.  This  circumstance  is  proved, 
not  only  by  the  writings  of  contemporary  authors,  but  also 
by  the '  manuscripts  preserved  in  the  records  of  Nurem- 
berg ;  and  although  this  record  is  contrary  to  the  generally 
received  opinion,  that  the  Azores  were  discovered  by  Gon- 
salva  Velho,  a  Portuguese,  yet  its  authenticity  seems 
unquestionable.  It  is  confirmed  not  only  by  several  con- 
temporary writers,  and  by  Wagenseil,  one  of  the  most 
learned  men  of  the  last  century,  but  likewise  by  a  note 
written  on  parchment  in  the  German  language,  and  sent 
from  Nuremberg,  a  few  years  ago,  to  M.  Otto,  who  was 
then  investigating  the  discovery  of  America.  The  note 
contained,  with  other  things,  the  following  facts  :  "  Mar* 
tin  Beham,  esq.  son  of  Mr.  Martin  Beham,  of  Scoperin, 
lived  in  the  reigu  of  John  II.  king  of  Portugal,  in  an  island 
which  he  discovered,  and  called  the  island  of  Fayal,  one 
of  the  Azores,  lying  in  the  western  ocean." 

After  having  obtained  from  the  regent  a  grant  of  Fayal, 
and  resided  there  about  twenty  years,  Behem  applied  in 
1484  (eight  years  before  Columbus's  expedition),  to 
John  II.  king  of  Portugal,  to  procure  the  means  of  under- 
taking a  great  expedition  towards  the  south*  west.    Thi? 

,  1  Struts  Diet. 

Vol.  IV,  A  a 


S54  B  E  H  E  M. 

prince  gave  him  some  ships,  with  which  he  discovered  thai 
part  of  America  which  is  now  called  Brazil ;  and  he  even 
sailed  to  the  straits  of  Magellan,  or  to  the  country  of  some 
savage  tribes  whom  he  called  Patagonians,  from  the  ex- 
tremities of  their  bodies  being  covered  with  a  skin  more 
like  bear's  paws  than  human  hands  and  feet.  A  fact  so 
little  known,  and  apparently  so  derogatory  to  the  fame  of 
Columbus,  ought  not  to  be  admitted  without  sufficient 
proof;  but  the  proofs  which  have  been  urged  in  support 
of  its  authenticity  are  such  as  cannot  be  controverted. 
They  are  not  only  the  letters  of  Behem  himself,  written 
in  1486,  and  preserved  in  the  archives  of  Nuremberg,  but 
likewise  the  public  records  of  that  city  ;  in  which  we  read 
that  H  Martin  Behem,  traversing  the  Atlantic  ocean  for 
several  years,  examined  the  American  islands,  and  dis- 
covered the  strait  which  bears  the  name  of  Magellan  be- 
fore either  Christopher  Columbus  or  Magellan  sailed  those 
seas ;  whence  he  mathematically  delineated,  on  a  geo- 
graphical chart,  for  the  king  of  Lusitania,  the  situation  of 
the  coast  around  every  part  of  that  famous  and  renowned 
strait,  long  before  Magellan  thought  of  his  expedition." 

This  wonderful  discovery  has  not  escaped  the  notice  erf 
contemporary  writers.     A  confirmation  of  it  occurs  in  the 
Latin  chronicle  of  Hartman  Schedl,  and  in  the  remarks 
made  by  Petrus  Mateus  on  the  canon  law,  two  years  be- 
fore the  expedition  of  Columbus.     These  passages  demon- 
strate that  the  first  discovery  of  America  is  due  to  the 
Portuguese,  and  not  to  the  Spaniards;  and  that  the  chief 
merit  belongs  •  to  a  German  astronomer.     The  expedition 
of  Frederick  Magellan,  which  did  not  take  place  before 
the  year  1519,  arose  from  the  following  fortunate  circum- 
stance : — This  person  being  in  the  apartment  of  the  king 
of  Portugal,  saw  there  a  chart  of  the  coast  of  America, 
drawn  by  Behem,  and  at  once  conceived  the  bold  project 
of  following  the  steps  of  our  great  navigator.     Jerome 
Benzon,  who  published  a  description  of  America  in  1550, 
speaks  of  this  chart;  a  copy  of  which,  sent  by  Behem  him- 
self, is  preserved  in  the  archives  of  Nuremberg.     The  ce- 
lebrated astronomer  Riccioli,  though  an  Italian,  yet  does  not 
seem  willing  to  give  his  countryman  the  honour  of  this  im- 
.  portant  discovery.  In  his  "  Geographia  Reformata,"  book  III. 
p.  90,  be  says,  "  Christopher  Columbus  never  thought  of 
an  expedition  to  the  West  Indies  until  his  arrival  in  the 
island  of  Madeira,  where,  amusing  himself  in  forming  and 


B  E  H  E  M.  355 

delineating  geographical  charts,  he  obtained  information 
from  Martin  Boehm,  or,  as  the  Spaniards  say,  from  Al-» 
pboasus  Sanchez  de  Huelva,  a  pilot,  who  had  chanced  to 
fall  in  with  the  islands  afterwards  called  Dominica.19  And 
in  another  place,  "  Boehm  and  Columbus  have  each 
their  praise ;  they  were  both  excellent  navigators ;  but 
Columbus  would  never  have  thought  of  his  expedition  to  ' 
America,  had  not  Boehm  gone  there  before  him.  His 
name  i%  not  so  much  celebrated  as  that  of  Columbus,  Ame* 
ricus,  or  Magellan,  although  he  is  superior  to  them  all." 

That  Behem  rendered  some  very  important  services  to 
the  crown  of  Portugal,  is  put  beyond  all  controversy  by 
the  recompense  bestowed  on  him  by  king  John,  who  in 
1485  made  him  a  knight,  and  governor  of  Fayal  ;  he  is 
said  also  to  have  espoused  the  daughter  of  a  great  lord, 
"  in  consideration  of  the  important  services  he  had  per* 
formed."  These  marks  of  distinction  conferred  on  a 
stranger,  could  not  be  meant  as  a  recompense  for  the  dis* 
loyery  of  the  Azores,  which  was  made  twenty  years  be- 
fore, but  <as  a  reward  for  the  discovery  of  Congo,* from 
whence  the  chevalier  Behem  had  brought  gold  and  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  precious  wares.  In  1492,  crowned  with 
honours  and  riches,  he  undertook  a  journey  to  Nuremberg, 
to  visit  his  native  country  and  family.  He*  there  made' a 
terrestrial  globe,  which  is  looked  on  as  a  masterpiece  for 
that  time,  and  which  is  still  preserved  in  the  library  of 
that  city.  The  outline  of  his  discoveries  may  there  be 
seen,  under  the  name  of  western  lands ;  and  from  their 
situation  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  they  are  the  present 
coasts  of  Brazil,  and  the  environs  of  the  straits  of  Magel- 
lan. This  globe  was  made  in  the  same  year  that  Columbus 
.set  out  on  his  expedition ;  therefore  it  is  impossible  that 
Behem  could  have  profited  by  the  works  of  that  navigator, 
who,  besides,  went  a  much  more  northerly  course. 

After  having  performed  several  other  interesting  voy- 
ages, the  chevalier  Behem  died  at  Lisbon,  in  July  1 506, 
regretted  by  every  one,  but  leaving  behind  him  no  other 
.work  than  the  globe  and  chart,  which  we  have  mentioned. 
The  globe  is  made  from  the  writings  of  Ptolomy,  Pliny, 
Strabo,  and  especially  from  the  account  of  Mark  Paul* 
the  Venetian,  a  celebrated  traveller  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury;  and  of  John  Mandeville,  an  Englishman,  who,  about 
the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century  published  an  account 
of  a  journey  of  thirty- three  years  in  Africa  and  Asia.    He 

AA2 


356  B  E  H  E  M. 

has  also  added  the  important  discoveries  made  by  himself 
en  the  coasts  of  Africa  and  America. 

From  these  circumstantial  accounts,  which  have  been 
but  very  lately  brought  to  light,  there  can  be  little  doubt, 
we  think,  that  America  was  discovered  by  Martin  Behem. 
Dr.  Robertson,   indeed,  is  of  a  different  opinion;   but 
great  as  we  willingly  acknowledge  his  authority  to  be,  we 
may  differ  from   him  without  presumption  in  this  case, 
since  he  had  it  not  in  his  power  to  consult  the  German 
documents  to  which  we  have  appealed,  and  has  himself 
advanced  facts  not  easily  to  be  reconciled  to  his  own  opi- 
nion.    He  allows  that  Behem  was  very  intimate  with 
Christopher  Columbus ;  that  he  was  the  greatest  geogra- 
pher of  his  time,  and  scholar  of  the  celebrated  John  Mttller 
or  Regiomontanus ;  that  he  discovered,  in  1483,  the  king- 
dom of  Congo,  upon  the  coast  of  Africa ;  that  he  made  a 
globe  which  Magellan  made  use  of;  that  he  drew  a  map 
at  Nuremberg,  containing  the  particulars  of  his  discoveries ; 
and  that  he  placed  in  this  chart  land  which  is  found  to  be 
in  the  latitude  of  Guiana.     He  adds,  indeed,  without  proof, 
that  this  land  was  a  fabulous  island  ;  but  if  authentic  re- 
cords are  to  give  pUce  to  bare  assertion,  there  is  an  end 
of  all  historical  evidence;     If  Behem  took  for  an  island  the 
first  land  which  he  discovered,  it  was  a  mistake  surely  not 
so  gross  as  to  furnish  grounds  for  questioning  his  veracity, 
or  for  withholding  from  him  for  ever  that  justice  which  has 
been  so  long  delayed.    But  this  very  delay  will  by  some  be 
thought  a  powerful  objection  to  the  truth  of  Behem's  claim 
to  the  discovery  of  America ;  for  if  it  was  really  discovered 
by.  him,  why  did  he  not  leave  behind  him  some  writing  to 
confirm  the  discovery  to  himself?  and  why  did  not  the 
court  of  Portugal,  so  jealous  of  the  discovery  of  the  new 
world,  protest  against  the  exclusive  claim  of  the  Spa- 
niards ? 

To  these  objections  we  may  reply,  that,  however  plau- 
sible they  may  at  first  appear,  they  do  not  in  the  smallest 
degree  invalidate  the  positive  evidence  which  we  have 
urged  for  the  Chevalier  Behem's  being  the  real  discoverer 
of  the  new  world :  for  it  would  surely  be  very  absurd  to 
oppose  the  difficulty  of  assigning  motives  for  certain  actions 
performed  at  a  remote  period,  to  the  reality  of  other 
actions  for  which  we  have  the  testimony  of  a  cloud  of  con- 
temporary witnesses.  Supposing  it  wer$  true,  therefore, 
that  Sehem  had  left  behind  him  no  writing  claiming  te 


B  E  H  E  M.  S5f 

himself  the  discovery  of  any  part  of  the  continent  of  Ame- 
rica, the  only  inference  which  could  be  drawn  from  his 
silence  would  be,  either  that  hfe  was  a  man  of  great  modesty, 
or  that  his  mind  was  intent  only  on  the  acquisition  of  know- 
ledge to  himself,  without  feeling  the  usual  impulse  to  com- 
municate that  knowledge  to  others.  But  it  is  not  true  that 
he  has  left  behind  him  no  claim  of  this  discovery  to  him- 
self. The  letters  to  which  we  have  appealed,  and  which 
are  preserved  in  the  archives  of  Nuremberg,  together  with 
the  globe  and  map,  which  he  certainly  made,  furnish  as 
complete  a  confirmation  of  his  claim  as  could  have  been 
furnished  by  the  most  elegant  account  of  his  voyages. 

For  the  silence  of  the  Portuguese,  many  reasons  might 
be  assigned.  The  discoveries  of  Columbus  were  made  so 
much  farther  north  than  those  of  Behem,  that,  in  an  age 
when  geographical  knowledge  was  so  very  limited,  both 
Spaniards  and  Portuguese  might  very  naturally  believe  that 
the  country  discovered  by  the  former  of  these  navigators 
had  no  connexion  with  that  discovered  by  the  latter.  At 
any  rate,  the  Portuguese,  whose  discoveries  proceeded 
from  avarice,  were  satisfied  with  scraping  together  gold 
wherever  they  could  find  it :  and  finding  it  in  Africa,  they 
thought  not  of  searching  for  it  in  a  more  distant  region,  till 
the  success  of  the  Spaniards  shewed  them  their  mistake* 
One  thing  more  is  worthy  of  attention.  The  long  stay  of 
Columbus  at  Madeira  makes  his  interview  with  Behem  more 
than  probable.  It  is  impossible  that  he  should  have  neg- 
lected seeing  a  man  so  interesting,  and  who  could  give  him 
every  kind  of  information  for  the  execution  of  the  plan 
which  he  had  forpied.  The  mariners  who  accompanied 
the  Chevalier  Behem  might  also  have  spread  reports  at 
Madeira  and  the  Azores  concerning  the  discovery  of  which 

.  they  had  been  witnesses.  What  ought  to  confirm  us  in 
this  is,  that  Mariana  himself  says  (book  xxvi.  chap.  3.)  that 
a  certain  vessel  going  to  Africa,  was  thrown  by  a  gate  of 
wind  upon  certain  unknown  lands ;  and  that  the  sailors  at 
their  return  to  Madeira  had  communicated  to  Christopher 

.  Columbus  the  circumstances  of  their  voyage.  All  authors 
agree  that  this  learned  man  bad  some  information  respect- 
ing the  western  shores ;  but  they  speak  in  a  very  vague 
manner.  The  expedition  of  the  Chevalier  Behem  explains 
the  mystery, l 

1  American  Philosophical  Transactions,  vol.  II.  paper  by  M.  Otto. — NichoU 
ton's  Journal,  Not,  II.'  and  III.— Gieig'i  Suppl.  to  the  Encyciop.  Brit. 


S5S  B  E  H  N. 

BEHMEN.     SeeBOEMEN. 

BEHN  (Afhara),    a  celebrated  English  poetess,  de- 
scended from  a  good  family  in  the  city  of  Canterbury,  was 
born  in  the  reign  of  Charles  I.  but  in  what  yea*  is  not  cer- 
tain :  her  father's  name  was  Johnson ;  who  being  related 
to  the  lord  Willoughby,  and  by  his  interest  having  been 
appointed  lieutenant  general  of  Surinam,  and  six-and- 
thirty  islands,  embarked  with  his  family  for  the  West  In- 
dies ;  at  which  time  Aphara  was  very  young.     Mr.  Johnson 
died  in  his  passage,  but  his  family  arrived  at   Surinam, 
where  our  poetess  became  acquainted  with  the  American 
prince  Oroouoko,  whose  story  she  has  given  us  in  her 
celebrated  novel  of  that  name.     She  tells  us,  "  she  had 
often  seen  and  conversed  with  that  great  man,  and  had  been 
a  witness  to  many  of  his  mighty  actions  ;  and  that  at  one 
time,  he  and  Climene  (or  Imoinda  his  wife)  were  scarce  an 
hour  in  a  day  from  her  lodgings.9'     The  intimacy  betwixt 
Oroonoko  and  our  poetess  occasioned  some  reflections  on 
her  conduct,  from  which  the  authoress  of  her  life  justifies 
her  in  the  following  manner :  "  Here,'*  says  she,  "  I  can 
add  nothing  to  what  she  has  given  the  world  already,  but 
a  vindication  of  her  from  some  unjust  aspersions  I  find  are 
insinuated  about  this  town,  in  relation  to  that  prince.     I 
knew  her  intimately  well,  and  I  believe  she  would  not  have 
concealed  any  love  affairs  from  me,  being  one  of  her  own 
sex,  whose  friendship  and  secrecy  she  had  experienced, 
which  makes  me  assure  the  world,  there  was  no  affair  be- 
twixt that  prince  and  Astraea,  but  what  the  whole  planta- 
tion were  witnesses  of ;  a  generous  value  for  his  uncommon 
virtues,  which  every  one  that  but  hears  them,  finds  in  him- 
self, and  his  presence  gave  her  no  more.     Besides,  bis 
heart  was  too  violently  set  on  the  everlasting  charms  of  his 
Imoinda,  to  be  shook  with  those  more  faint  (in  his  eye)  of 
a  white  beauty;  and  Astraa's  relations,  there  present,  bad 
tooNvatchful  an  eye  over  her,  to  permit  the  frailty  of  her 
youth,  if  that  had  been  powerful  enough." 

The  disappointments  she  met  with  at  Surinam,  by  losing 
her  parents  and  relations,  obliged  her  to  return  to  Eng- 
land ;  where,  soon  after  her  arrival,  she  was  married  to 
Mr.  Behn,  an  eminent  merchant  of  London,  of  Dutch  ex- 
traction, King  Charles  II.  whom  she  highly  pleased  by 
the  entertaining  and  accurate  account  she  gave  him  of  the 
colony  of  Surinam,  thought  her  a  proper  person  to  be  in- 
trusted with  the  management  of  gome  affairs  during  tt»* 


B  E  H  N.  3591 

Dutch  war,  in  other  words  to  act  as  a  spy ;  which  was  the 
occasion  of  her  going  over  to  Antwerp.  Here  she  dis- 
covered the  design  formed  by  the  Dutch,  of  sailing  up  the 
river  Thames,  in  order  to  burn  the  English  ships ;  which 
she  learnt  from  one  Vander  Albeit,  a  Dutchman.  Thia 
man,  who,  before  the  war,  had  been  in  love  with  her  in 
England,  no  sooner  heard  of  her  arrival  at  Antwerp,  than 
he  paid  her  a  visit ;  and,  after  a  repetition  of  all  his  for- 
mer professions  of  love,  pressed  her  extremely  to  allow 
him  by  some  signal  means  to  give  undeniable  proofs  of  his 
passion.  This  proposal  was  so  suitable  to  her  present  aim 
in  the  service  of  her  country,  that  she  accepted  of  it,  and 
employed  her  lover  in  such  a  manner  as  made  her  very  ser-* 
viceable  to  the  king.  The  latter  end  of  1666,  Albert  sent 
her  word  by  a  special  messenger,  that  he  would  be  with 
her  at  a  day  appointed,  at  which  time  he  revealed  to  her, 
that  Cornelius  de  Witt  and  De  Ruyter  had  proposed  th$ 
above-mentioned  expedition  to  the  States.  Albert  having 
mentioned  this  affair  with  all  the  marks  of  sincerity,  Mrs. 
Behn  could  not  doubt  the  credibility  thereof;  and  when 
the  interview  was  ended,  she  sent  express  to  the  court  of 
England ;  but  her  intelligence  (though  well  grounded,  a# 
appeared  by  the  event)  being  disregarded  and  ridiculed, 
she  renounced  all  state  affairs,  and  amused  herself  during 
her  stay  at  Antwerp  with  what  was  more  suited  to  her  ta- 
lents, the  gallantries  of  the  city.  After  some  time  she 
embarked  at  Dunkirk  for  England,  and  in  her  passage  the 
ship  was  driven  on  the  coast  four  days  within  sight  of  land  ; 
but,  by  the  assistance  of  boats  from  that  shore,  the  crew- 
were  all  saved ;  and  Mrs.  Behn  arrived  safely  in  London, 
where  she  dedicated  the  rest  of  her  life  to  pleasure  and 
poetry,  neither  of  the  most  pure  kind.  She  published 
three  volumes  of  miscellany  poems;  the  first  in  1684,  the 
second  in  1685,  and  the  third  in  1688,  consisting  of  songs 
and  miscellanies,  by  the  earl  of  Rochester,  sir  George 
Etherege,  Mr.  Henry  Crisp,  and  others,  with  some  pieces 
of  her  own.  To  the  second  collection  is  annexed  a  trans* 
Jafcion  of  the  duke  de  Rochefoucault's  moral  reflections, 
under  the  title  of  "  Seneca,  unmasked."  She  wrote  also 
/seventeen  plays,  some  histories  and  novels,  which  are  ex- 
tant in  two  volumes,  12mo,  1735,  8th  edition,  published 
t>y  Mr.  Charles  Gildpn,  and  dedicated  to  Simon  Scroop, 
esq.  to  which  is  prefixed  the  history  of  the  life,  and  me- 
moirs of  Mrs.  Behn,  written  by  one  of  the  fair  sex.    She 


$60  BEHN. 

translated  Fontenelle's  History  of  oracles,  and  Plurality  of 
worlds,  to  which  last  she  annexed  an  essay  on  translation  and 
translated  prose,  not  very  remarkable  for  critical  acumen. 
The  paraphrase  of  OEnone's  epistle  to  Paris,  in  the  Eng- 
lish translation  of  Ovid's  Epistles,  is  Mrs.  Behn's ;  and  Mr. 
Dryden,  in  the  preface  to  that  work,  compliments  her  with 
fnore  gallantry  than  justice,  when  he  adds,  "  I  was  desired 
to  say,  that  the  author,  who  is  of  the  fair  sex,  understood 
Dot  Latin ;  but  if  she  does  not,  I  am  afraid  she  has  given 
us  occasion  to  be  ashamed  who  do."  She  was  also  the 
authoress  of  the  celebrated  Letters  between  a  nobleman 
and  his  sister,  printed  in  1684  ;  and  we  have  extant  of  hers, 
eight  love-letters,  to  a  gentleman  whom  she  passionately 
loved,  and  with  whom  she  corresponded  under  the  name  of 
Lycidas.  They  are  printed  in  the  Life  and  Memoirs  of 
Mrs.  Behn,  prefixed  to  her  histories  and  novels.  She  died 
between  forty  and  fifty  years  of  age,  after  a  long  indispo- 
sition, April  1 6,  1689,  and  was  buried  in  the  cloisters  of 
Westminster-abbey.  Mrs.  Behn,  upon  the  whqle,  cannot 
be  considered  as  an  ornament  either  to  her  sex,  or  her  na- 
tion. Her  plays  abound  with  obscenity ;  and  her  novels 
are  little  better.     Mr.  Pope  speaks  thus  of  her : 

"  The  stage  how  loosely  does  Astaea  tread, 
s  Who  fairly  puts  all  characters  to  bed  J" 

The  poet  means  behind  the  scenes,  but  Mr.  Granger  is  of 
opinion  she  would  have  literally  put  them  to  bed  before  the 
spectators  ;  but  here  she  was  restrained  by  the  laws  of  the 
drama,  not  by  her  own  delicacy,  or  the  manners  of  the 
age.  Her  works,  however,  are  now  deservedly  forgotten.1 
BEHRENS  (Conrad  Bertold),  a  German  physician  of 
note,  was  born  at  Hildesheim  in  Lower  Saxony,  Aug.  26, 
1660.  After  studying  medicine  he  was  admitted  to  the 
degree  of  doctor  at  Helmstadt  in  1684.  In  1712,  he  was 
appointed  court-physician  to  the  duke  of  Brunswick  Lu- 
nenburghi,  He  published  many  essays  and  dissertations  in 
the  Memoirs  of  the  German  Imperial  academy,  of  which 
lie  was  a  member,  and  other  works  separately,  both  in 
German  and  Latin.  The  principal  of  these,  are,  I.  "  De 
constitutiohe  artis  medicee,"  Helmstadt,  1696,  8vo.  2. 
11  The  Legal  Physician,**  in  German,  ibid.  8vo,  containing 
several  medico-legal  questions,  and  the  history  of  sudden 
deaths,  with  the  appearances  on  dissection.     3.  "  Selecta 

I  Jfof .  Brit.— €e».  Diet— Cibbcr's  LWet ,  vok  UL^Biog.  Dramatics, 


B  E  H  R  E  N  S.  ftet 

medica  de  medicine*  natura  et  certitudine,"  Francfort  and 
Leipsic,  1708,  an  inquiry  into  the  history  of  medicine,  its 
sects,  &c.  4.  u  Selecta  Disetetica,  sell  de  recta  ac  £on» 
veniente  ad  sanitatem  vivendi  ratione  tractatus,"  Franc* 
fort,  1710,  4to,  in  which  he  treats  of  air,  food,  exercise, 
sleep,  and  whatever  may  conduce  to  health  ;  of  the  causes 
of  diseases  ;  the  use  of  mineral  waters,  &c.  Behrens  diedV 
Oct.  4,  1736.  His  life  was  published  by  J.  M.  Gl<esener, 
at  Hildesheim  in  the  same  year.  His  son  and  grandson 
were  both  physicians  and  medical  writers.  The  former 
published,  1 .  "  Trias  casuum  memdrabilium  medicorum," 
Guelpherbiti  (Wolfenbuttel),  1727,  4to.  2.  "  De  imagi~ 
nario  quodam  miraculo  in  gravi  oculorum  morbo,  &c.** 
Brunopolis  (Brunswick),  1734,  4to.  3.  "  De  felicitate 
medicorum  aucta  in  terris  Brunsvicensis,"  ibid.  1747,  4to.1 

BEIDHAVI,  born  in  the  village  of  Beidhab,  was  cadi 
or  judge  of  the  city  of  Schiraz  in  Persia,  from  whence  he 
went  to  that  of  Zauns,  where  he  died  in  the  year  of  the 
hegira  685  or  692,  of  the  Christian  sera  1289,  or  1291.  He 
has  written  a  literal  commentary  in  2  vols,  on  the  Alcoran, 
Which  has  been  explained  and  commented  on  by  several 
other  authors.  * 

BEIER  (Adrian),  a  native  of  Jena,  where  he  was  born 
in  1634.  In  1658,  he  was  made  law  professor  in  that  uni- 
versity. He  was  the  first  who  wrote  systematically,  on  the 
laws,  usages,  and  duties  of  cdrporations  and  wardens  of  arts 
and  manufactures,  collecting  such  scattered  notices  as  he 
could  find  on  these  subjects,  and  throwing  considerable 
light  on  a  part  of  jurisprudence  not  then  well  understood. 
He  died  in  1712.  His  works  are,  1.  "Tyro  prudentiae 
juris  optficialii  pracursorum  emissarius,"  Jena,  1685,  4to, 
and  again  in  1688,  but  the  best  edition  is  that  edited  with 
great  improvements  by  Struvius,  1717,  4to.  2.  "Trac- 
tatus  de  jure  prohibendi,  quod  competit  opificibus  in  opi- 
fices,"  Jena,  1721,  4to,  likewise  improved  by  Struvius, 
1721.  3.  "  Boethus,  peregre  redux  conspectibus  et  ju* 
dice  conspieuus,"  Jena,   1685  and  1717,  4to.9 

BEJERL1NCK.     See  BEVERNINCK. 

BEISCH,  or  BEICH  (Joachim  Francis),  an  artist,  was 
born  at  Ravensburgh  in  Suabia,  in  1665,  and  was  taught 
the  first  rudiments  of  his  art  by  bis  father,  who  was  a  ma« 

1  Diet.  Htst—Haller.—Mangct. 

»  D'Herbefct  Bibl,  Orient.  *  Diet  Hist. 


363  B  £  I  $  C  H. 

thematician*  and  practised  painting  only  for  his  amusement, 
and  explained  the  principles  of  it  to  his  son.  By  an  assi- 
duous practice  for  some  years,  Beisch  proved  a  good  ar- 
tist, and  was  employed  at  the  court  of  Munich,  to  paint 
the  battles  which  the  elector  Maximilian  Emanuel  had 
fought  in  Hungary.  While  the  elector  was  absent  on  some 
of  his  expeditions,  Beisch  embraced  that  opportunity  to 
visit  Italy,  and  took  ifte  most  effectual  methods  for  his  im- 
provement, by  studying  and  copying  those  celebrated  spots 
which  have  always  claimed  general  admiration.  He  bad 
three  different  manners :  his  first,  before  his  journey  to 
Italy,  was  true,  but  too  dark  ;  bis  second  had  more  clear- 
ness and  more  truth ;  and  his  l^st,  still  more  clear,  was 
likewise  weaker  than  all.  The  scenes  of  his  landscapes, 
however,  are  agreeably  chosen,  and  very  picturesque  :  his 
touch  is  light,  tender,  and  full  of  spirit ;  and  his  style  of 
composition  frequently  resembled  that  of  Gaspar  Poussin, 
or  Salvator  Rcjsa.  Solimene,  a  superior  artist,  did  not  dis- 
dain to  copy  some  of  Beisch' s  landscapes.  This  artist  died 
in  1748,  aged  eighty-three. 1 

BEITHAR,  better  known  under  the  name  of  Ebn  Bei- 
thar,  was  likewise  called  Aschab,  which  signifies,  botanist 
or  herbalist.  He  was  an  African  by  birth,  and  died  in  the 
646th  year  of  the  hegira.  We  have  of  him  the  "  Giam£  al 
adviat  al  mofredat,"  in  4  vols,  which  is  a  general  history  of 
simples  or  of  plants  ranged  in  alphabetical  order.  He  has 
likewise  written  "  Mogni  si  adviat  al  Mofredat,"  in  which 
he  treats  of  the  use  of  simples  in  the  cure  of  every  parti- 
cular part  of  the  body.  Ebn  Beithar  alsp  answered  in  a 
book  which  he  called  Taalik,  to  a  work  of  Ebn  Giazlab, 
who  accused  his  works  of  many  imperfections.  * 

BEK,  or  EEC,  or  BEAK  (Anthony),  bishop  of  Dur- 
ham in  the  reigns  of  Edward  I.  and  II.  was  advanced,  with 
the  king's  consent,  frpm  the  archdeaconry  of  Durham  and 
other  preferments  to  the  bishopric.  Of  his  extraction  and 
education  we  have  no  account.  He  was  elected  by  the 
monks  on  the  9th  of  July  1283,  and  consecrated,  in  the 
presence  of  the  king  and  several  of  the  nobles,  by  William 
Wicwane,  archbishop  of  York,  on  the  9tb  of  January  fol- 
lowing. At  the  time  of  his  consecration,  the  archbishop, 
having  bad  a  dispute,  during  the  vacancy  of  the  see,*  with 

1  Pilkiagton.— Descamps,  vol.  IV. 

9  D'Herbelot— Saxii  Ooemasticoa. — Fabr.  Bibl,  Gr*c. 


B  £  K*  363 

the  chapter  of  Durham,  obliged  the  prior  to  go  out  of  the 
church ;  and  the  next  day  enjoined  the  new  bishop,  upon 
his  canonical  obedience,  to  excommunicate  the  superior 
and  several  of  the  monks :  but  Bek  refused  to  obey  the 
archbishop,  saying,    "  I  was  yesterday  consecrated  their 
bishop,  and  shall  I  excommunicate  them  to-day  ?  no  obe- 
dience shall  force  me  to  this."     He  was   enthroned  on 
Christinas  eve,  1285 ;  on  which  occasion  a  dispute  arising 
between  the  prior  and  the  official  of  York  about  the  right 
of  performing  that   ceremony,  Bek  was  installed  by  his 
brother  Thomas  Bek  bishop  of  St.  David's.     This  prelate 
bad  a  long  dispute  with  the  monks  of  Durham ;  which 
proved  very  detrimental  to  the  revenues  and  privileges  of 
the  see.     He  is  said  to  have  been  the  richest  bishop  (if  we 
except  Wolsey)  that  had  ever  held  the  see  of  Durham  :  for, 
besides  the  revenues  of  his  bishopric,  he  had  a  temporal 
estate  of  five  thousand  marks  per  annum ;  part  of  which, 
we  are  told,  he  gained  by  unjustly  converting  to  his  own 
Use  an  estate,  which  he  held  in  trust  for  the  natural  son  of 
the  baron  of  Vescey.     He  procured  the  translation  of  the 
body  of  St.  William,  formerly  archbishop   of  York,  and 
bore  the  whole  expence  of  the  ceremony,  which  was  per* 
formed  in  the  church  of  York.    He  assisted  king  Edward  L 
in  his  war   against  John  Baliol,   king  of  Scotland,    and 
brought  into  the  field  a  large  body  of  forces.     In  1294,  he 
was  sent  ambassador  from  king  Edward  to  the  emperor  of 
Germany,  to  conclude  a  treaty  with  that  prince,  against 
the  increasing  power  of  France.     In   1295,  the  pope  hav- 
ing sent  two  cardinals  on  an  embassy  to  the  English  court, 
this  prelate  was  appointed  to  answer  them  in  the  king's 
name.     He  had  the  title  of  patriarch  of  Jerusalem  con- 
ferred on  him  by  the  pope  in  1 305  ;  and  about  the  same 
time  received  from  the  king  a  grant  of  the  principality  of  the 
island  of  Man.   An  act  passed  in  his  time,  in  the  parliament 
of  Carlisle,   1307,  to  prevent  the  bishop  of  Durham  or  his 
officers,  from  cutting  down  the  woods  belonging  to  the 
bishopric.     This  prelate  expended  large  sums  in  building. 
He  fortified  the  bishop's  seat  at  Aukland,  and  turned  it 
into  a  castle ;  and  he  built,  or  enlarged,  the  castles  of  Ber- 
nard ii\  the  bishopric  of  Durham  ;  of  Alnwick  in  Northum- 
berland; of  Gainford  in  the  bishopric  of  Durham;  of  So** 
merton  in  Lincolnshire,  which  he  gave  to  king  Edward  I.  $ 
and  of  Eltham  in  Kent,  which  he  gave  to  queen  Eleanor. 
He  founded  the  priory  of  Alvingham  in  Lincolnshire,  the 


964  B  £  K. 

revenue  of  which,  at  the  dissolution)  was  valued  at 
14l/.  1 $$.  per  annum.  He  founded,  likewise,  a  collegiate 
church,  with  a  dean  and  seven  prebendaries,  at  Chester- 
upon-tbe-street,  and  at  Lancbester,  in  the  bishopric  of 
Durham.  He  also  gave  tjp  the  church  of  Durham  two  pic- 
tures, containing  the  history  of  our  Saviour's  nativity,  to 
be  hung  as  an  ornament  over  the  great  altar  on  the  festival 
of  Christmas.  He  died  at  Eltham,  March  S,  1310,  having 
sat  twenty-eight  years,  Mid  Was  buried  in  the  church  of 
Durham  near  the  east  front,  contrary  to  the  custom  of  his 
predecessors,  who,  out  of  respect  to  the  body  of  St.  Cuth~ 
bert,  were  never  laid  within  the  church.  Bek  was  a  man 
of  uncommon  pride,  which  more  or  less  entered  into  the 
whole  of  bis  conduct.  He  was  fond  of  military  parade,  and 
the  attendance  of  a  retinue  of  soldiers,  although  he  took 
little  pains  to  attach  'them  to  him.  His  magnificent  taste 
appeared  not  only  in  the  lasting  monuments  already  nd~ 
ticed,  but  in  bis  more  domestic  expences.  He  is  said  on 
one  occasion  to  have  paid  forty  shillings  (a  sum  now  equi- 
valent to  80/.)  for  forty  fresh  herrings  in  London,  when 
they  had  been  refused  by  the  most  opulent  persons  of  the 
realm,  then  assembled  in  parliament  He  was  so  impatient 
of  rest,  that  he  never  took  more  than  one  sleep,  saying  it 
was  unbecoming  a  man  to  turn  from  one  side  to  the  other 
in  bed.  He  was  perpetually  either  riding  from  one  manor 
to  another,  or  bunting  or  hawking.  Though  his  expence? 
were  great,  he  was  provident  enough  never  to  want  money* 
He  always  rose  from  his  meals  with  an  appetite :  and  his 
continence  was  so  singular  that  he  never  looked  a  woman 
full  in  the  face.  We  are  even  gravely  told,  that  in  the 
translation  of  the  body  of  St.  William  of  York,  when  the 
other  bishops  declined  touching  that  saint's  remains,  con- 
scious of  their  failings  in  point  of  chastity,  he  alone  boldly 
handled  them,  and  assisted  the  ceremony.  His  taste  in 
architecture,  however,  and  his  munificence  in  contributing 
to  so  many  once  noble  edifices,  are  the  only  favourable  cir- 
cumstances in  his  character,  nor  should  we  have  thought 
him  worthy  of  much  notice,  had  he  not  been  admitted  by 
the  original  editors  of  our  national  biography. l 

BEK,  or  BECK,  or  BEEK  (David),  a  famous  painter, 
born  at  Delft  in  the  Netherlands,  May  25,  1621,  was  trained 
under  Van  Dyke,  and  other  celebrated  masters.     Skill  in 

1  Bios*  Brit.— Hutchinson's  Hist,  of  Durham,  vol,  U  p.  92*. 


B  E  K.  163 

profession,  joined  to  politeness  of  manners,  acquired 
lum  esteem  in  almost  all  the  courts  of  Europe.     He  was 
in  high  favour  with  Charles  I.  king  of  England,  and  taught 
the  principles  of  drawing  to  his  sons,  Charles  and  Jamesw 
fie  wak  afterwards  in  the  service  of  the  kings  of  France  and 
Denmark :  he  went  next  into  the  service  of  Christina  queen 
of  Sweden,  who  esteemed  him  very  highly,  gave  him  many 
rich  presents,  and  made  him  first  gentleman  of  her  bed- 
chamber.    She  sent  him  also  to  Italy,  Spain,  France,  Eng- 
land, Denmark,  and  to  all  the  courts  of  Germany,  to  take 
the  portraits  of  the  different  kings  and  princes ;  and  then 
presented  each  of  them  with  their  pictures.     His  manner 
of  painting  was  extremely  free  and  quick,  so  that  king 
Charles  I.  told  hhn  one  day,  "  he  believed  he  could  paint; 
while  he  was  riding  post."     A  very  singular  adventure  hap- 
pened to  this  painter,  as  he  travelled  through  Germany, 
which  seems  not  unworthy  of  being  recited.     He  was  sud- 
denly and  violently  taken  ill  at  the  inn  where  he  lodged, 
and  was  laid  out  as  a  corpse,  seeming  to  all  appearance  quite 
dead.     His  valets  expressed  the  strongest  marks  of  grief 
for  the  loss  of  their  master ;  and  while  they  sat  beside  his 
bed,  they  drank  very  freely,  by  way  of  consolation.     At 
last  one  of  them,  who  grew  much  intoxicated,  said  to  his 
companions,  "  Our  master  was  fond  of  his  glass  while  he 
was  alive ;  and  out  of  gratitude,  let  us  give  him  a  glass  now 
he  is  dead."     As  the  rest  of  the  servants  assented  to  the 
proposal,  he  raised  up  the  head  of  his  master,  and  endea- 
voured to  pour  -some  of  the  liquor  into  his  mouth.     By  the 
fragrance  of  the  wine,  or  probably  by  a  small  quantity  that 
imperceptibly  grot  down  his  throat,  Bek  opened  his  eyes ; 
and  the  servant  being  excessively  drunk,  and  forgetting 
that  his  master  was  considered  as  dead,  compelled  him  to 
swallow  what  wine  remained  in  the  glass.     The  painter 
gradually  revived,  and  by  proper  management  and  care 
recovered  perfectly,    and    escaped  an  interment.     How, 
highly  the  works  of  this  master  were  esteemed,  may  ap- 
pear from  the  many  marks  of  distinction  and  honour  which 
'were  shewn  him ;  for  he  received  from  different  princes,  as 
an  acknowledgment  of  his  singular  merit,  nine  gold  chains, 
and  several  medals  of  gold  of  a  large  size.    The  manner  of 
his  death  is  represented  by  the  Dutch  writers,  as  implying 
-a  reflection  of  his  royal  patroness  the  queen  of  Sweden. 
He  was  very  desirous  of  returning  to  his  native  country; 
permission  for  which  that  princess  refused,  until  having 


3£6  B  E  K. 

occasion  herself  to  go  to  France,  Bek  had  the  courage  to 
ask  leaye  to  go  to  Holland.  She  granted  this  on  condition 
he  should  punctually  return  within  a  Certain  number  of 
weeks;  but  he  went  away  with  a  determination  never  to 
return.  She  wrote  to  him  to  come  to  Paris,  but  he  gave 
her  no  answer,  and  remained  at  the  Hague,  where  he  died 
suddenly,  Dec.  20,  1656,  not  without  suspicion  of  poison, 
as  the  Dutch  writers  insinuate. ' 

BEKA,  or  BEC  (John  de),  in  Latin,  Becanus,  a 
canon  o^he  church  of  Utrecht,  who  lived  about  the  mid- 
dle of  tne  fourteenth  century,  wrote  a  chronicle  of  h» 
church,  embracing  its  history  from  St.  Willibrod,  first 
bishop  of  Utrecht,  to  1346.  There  are  various  editions  of 
this  chronicle,  continued  down  by  another  hand  to  1393, 
the  worst  of  which,  according  to  Vossius,  is  that  of  Furme- 
rius,  and  the  best  that  of  Bu cheilitis,  Utrecht,  1643,  fol. 
entitled  "De  Episcopis  Ultrajectihis." • 

BEKINSAU  (John),  author  of  a  book  entitled  "  De 
Supremo  et  Absoluto  Regis  Imperio,"  was  born  at  Broad- 
chalke  in  Wiltshire,  and  educated  at  Wykeham's  school 
Bear  Winchester :  from  whence  he  was  sent  very  early  to 
New-tcollege  in  Oxford;  where,  having  served  two  years 
of  probation,  he  was  admitted  perpetual  fellow  in  1520* 
Iii  1526  he  took  the  degree  of  master  of  arts,  being  thai 
year  (as  one  of  the  university  registers  informs  us)  u  about 
to  take  a  journey  beyond  the  «eas  for  the  sake  of  study.9* 
In  his  college  he  distinguished  rflmself  by  his  -extraordinary 
skill  in  the  Greek  language.  In  1538  he  resigned  his  fel- 
lowship, and  married.  What  preferment  or  employment 
he  had  afterwards  is  uncertain.  He  was  familiarly  ac- 
quainted with,  and  highly  esteemed  by,  the  most  learned 
men  of  the  nation,  particularly  Leland,  who  has  bestowed 
an  encomium  on  him.  He  was  also  in  good  esteem  with 
king  Henry  VIII.  and  king  Edward  VI.  When  queen 
Mary  came  to  the  crown,  and  endeavoured  to  destroy  all 
that  her  father  and  brother  had  done  'towards  the  reforma- 
tion of  the  church,  Bekinsau  became  a  zealous  Roman  ca- 
tholic. After  Queen  Elizabeth's  accession,  he  -retired  to 
an  obscure  village  in  Hampshire,  called  Sherhoume ;  where 
lie  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  great  discontent,  and 

Was  buried  in  the  church  of  that  place,  the  20th  of  Dec. 

.  -        «. 

l  Descampi.— Pilkinfton. — Moreri. 

*  Moreri.— Vossius  d«  Script,  Lat.-*Caye,  y*1,  II.— Saxii  Onwnasticon. 


BEKINSAU.  S6» 

1559,  aged  sixty-three  years;  leaving  behind  him  this 
character  among  the  Roman  catholics,  that,  "  as  he  was 
a  learned  man,  so  might  he  have  been  promoted  according 
to  his  deserts,  if  he  had  been  constant  to  his  principles.** 
The  work  abovemefntioned  is  a  defence  of  the  king's  su- 
premacy against  the  claims  of  the  church  of  Rome,  and  is 
dedicated  by  the  author  to  king  Henry  VIII.  He  did  not 
venture  to  publish  it,  till  he  saw  that  the  pope's  power  was 
wholly  exterminated  in  England.  It  was  printed  at  Lon- 
don in  1 546,  in  8vo,  and  afterwards  in  the  first  qplume  of 
"  Monarchia  Romani  Imperii/'  &c.  by  Melchior  Goldast 
Hamensfeldius,  at  Francfort,  1621,  fol.  * 

BEKKER  (Balthasah),  a  once  celebrated  Dutch  di- 
vine, was  born  in  1634,  at  Warthaisen,  a  village  in  the 
province  ofGroningen.     He  learned  the  Latin  tongue  at 
home  under  his  father,  and  at  sixteen  years  of  age  was  en- 
tered at  the  university  of  Groningen,  where  he  applied 
himself  to  the  study  of  the  Greek  and  Hebrew  languages, 
and  made  also  a  considerable  proficiency  in  history  and 
philosophy.     He  went  afterwards  to  Franeker,  where  he 
studied  divinity  for  four  years  and  a  half,  when  he  was  cho- 
sen minister  at  Oosterlitigen,  a  village  about  six  miles  from 
Franeker,     He  discharged  his  duty  with  great  diligence, 
and  found  time  to  read  and  examine  the  writings  of  the 
most  eminent  philosophers  and  divines/*  He  kept  a  con- 
stant correspondence  with  James  Alting,  tinder  whom  hfe 
had  studied  the  Hebrew  tongue,  and  with  the  famous  Coc- 
ceius.     In  1665  he  took  his  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity, 
at  Franeker,  and  the  next  year  was  chosen  one  of  the  mi- 
nisters of  that  city.   When  he  was  minister  at  Oosterlingen, 
he  composed  a  short  catechism  for  children,  and  in  1670 
he  published  another  for  persons  of  a  more  advanced  age. 
This  last  being  strongly  objected  to  by  several  divines,  the 
author  was  prosecuted  before  the  ecclesiastical  assemblies ; 
and  notwithstanding  many  learned  divines  gave  their  testi- 
monies in  favour  of  this  catechism,  yet  in  the  synod  held 
in  1671,  at  Bolswart  in  Friezland,  it  was  voted  there,  to 
contain  several  strange  expressions,  unscriptural  positions, 
and  dangerous  opinions,  which  ought  not  to  be  printed, 
.or,  being  printed,  not  to  be  published,  but  that  if  revised 
and  corrected,  it  might  be  printed.     Bekker  appealed  to, 
the  next  synod,  which  met  at  Franeker,  in  July  1672,  who 

1  Bicg.  Brit.— Wood's  Atb.  ?oU  L— Dodd's  Church  Hist,— Inland's  Encomia, 


368  BEKKEH   . 

chose  a  committee  of  twelve  deputies,  to  inquire  into  this 
affair,  and  to  finish  it  in  six  weeks.  They  examined  Bek- 
ker's  catechism  very  carefully,  and  at  last  subscribed  an 
act  in  which  were  the  following  words :  "  That  they  had 
altered  all  such  expressions  as  seemed  to  be  offensive, 
strange,  or  uncommon :  that  they  had  examined,  secundum 
fidti  analogiam,  what  had  been  observed  by  the  several 
classes  as  unscriptural ;  and  that  they  judged  Dr.  Bekker's 
book,  with  their  corrections,  might,  for  the  edification  of 
God's  church,  be  printed  and  published,  as  it  contained 
several  wbolsome  and  useful  instructions."  This  judge- 
ment was  approved  of  by  the  synod  held  at  Harlingen  next 
year;  but  such  is  the  constitution  of  synods  in  the  seven 
provinces,  that  one  can  annul  what  another  has  established, 
and  Bekker  suffered  for  two  years  longer  mueh  trouble  and 
vexation. 

In  1674  he  was  chosen  minister  at  Loeuen,  a  village  near 
Utrecht ;  but  he  did  not  continue  here  long,  being  about 
two  years  after  called  to  Wesop,  and  in  1679  chosen  mi- 
nister at  Amsterdam.  The  comet  which  appeared  in  1680 
and  1681,  gave  him  an  opportunity  of  publishing  a  small 
book  in  Low  Dutch,  entitled  "  Ondersock  over  de  Ko- 
metei,"  that  is,  "  An  inquiry  concerning  Comets,"  where- 
in he  endeavoured  to  shew,  that  comets  are  not  the  pre- 
sages or  forerunners  of  any  evil.  This  piece  gained  him 
great  reputation,  as  did  likewise  his  Exposition  on  the  pro- 
phet Daniel,  wherein  he  gave  many  proofs  of  his  learning  and 
sound  judgment;  but  the  work  which  rendered  him  most 
famous,  is  his  "  t)e  betover  Wereld,"  or  the  "  World  be- 
witched," published  in  1691,  4to  and  8vo.  In  this  work 
he  took  occasion,  from  the  Cartesian  definition  of  spirit,  to 
deny  boldly,  all  the  accounts  we  have  in  scripture  of  the 
seduction,  influence,  and  operations  of  the  devil  and  his 
infernal  emissaries,  and  combines  with  this,  the  denial  of 
all  that  has  been  said  in  favour  of  the  existence  of  ghosts, 
spectres,  and  magicians.  He  modifies  and  perverts,  with 
the  greatest  ingenuity,  but  also  with  equal  temerity  and 
presumption,  the  accounts  given  by  the  sacred  writers  of 
the  power  of  Satan,  and  wicked  angels,  and  of  persons 
possessed  by  evil  spirits :  he  affirms,  likewise,  that  the  un- 
happy and  malignant  being,  who  is  called  in  scripture, 
Satan,  or  the  devil,  is  chained  down  with  his  infernal  mi- 
nisters in  hell :  so  that  he  can  never  come  forth  from  this 
eternal  prison  to  terrify  mortals,  or  to  seduce  the  righteous 


BEKKER.  $69 

from  the  paths  of  virtue.    The  substance  of  bis  argument, 
as  far  as  it  is  founded  on  the  Cartesian  definition  of  mind 
or  spirit,  is  this :  "  The  essence  of  mind  is  thought,  and 
the  essence  of  matter  extension.     Now,  since  there  is  no 
sort  of  conformity  or  connection  between  thought  and  ex- 
tension, mind  cannot  act  upon  matter,  unless  these  two 
substances  be  united,  as  soul  and  body  are  in  man  ;  there- 
fore no  separate  spirits,  either  good  or  evil,  can  act  upon 
mankind.     Such  acting  is  miraculous,  and  miracles  can  be 
performed  by  God  alone.    It  follows,  of  consequence,  that 
the  scriptural  accounts  of  the  actions  and  operations  of 
good  and  evil  spirits  must  be  understood  in  an  allegorical, 
sense." — Such' an  argument  does  little  honour  to  Bekker's 
acuteness  and  sagacity.     By  proving  too  much,  it  proves 
nothing  at  all :  for  if  the  want  of  a  connection  or  confor- 
mity between  thought  and  extension  renders  the  mind  in- 
capable of  acting  upon  matter,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how 
their  union  should  remove  this  incapacity,  since  the  want 
of  conformity  and  of  connection  remains,  notwithstanding 
this  union.     Besides,  according  to  this  reasoning,  the  su- 
preme being  cannot  act  upon  material  beings.     In  vain 
does  Bekker  maintain  the  affirmative,  by  having  recourse 
to  a  miracle :  for  this  would  imply,  that  the  whole  course 
of  nature  is  a  series  of  miracles,  that  is  to  say,  that  there 
are  no  miracles  at  all. 

This  work  excited  great  tumults  and  divisions,  not  only 
in  the  United  Provinces,  but  also  in  some  parts  of  Ger- 
many, where  several  divines  of  the  Lutheran  church  were 
alarmed  at  its  progress,  and  arose  to  oppose  it.  Bekker,  how- 
ever, although  successfully  refuted,  and  publicly  deposed 
from  his  pastoral  charge,  obstinately  adhered  to  his  opinions 
until  his  death,  which  happened  June  11,  1698.     Accord- 
ing to  his  biographer  in  the  Gen.  Diet.  u  he  was  a  laborious, 
learned,  and  ingenious  man,  always  desiring  to  improve  in 
knowledge.     As  he  was  inclined  to  think  freely,  he  would 
never  admit  any  one's  opinion  implicitly,  but  used  to  ex- 
amine every  thing  according  to  the  strictest  rules  of  reason, 
or  what  appeared  reason  to  him.  He  was  of  a  very  obliging 
temper,  and  knew  how  to  make  himself  acceptable  to  those 
who  conversed   with  him.     He  had  a  quick  genius,  and 
when  he  had  once  imbibed  any  opinion,  it  was  very  difficult 
to  make  him  change  it,  and  sometimes  he  trusted  too  much 
to  his  own  judgment.    He  was,  like  men  who  use  to  medi- 
tate deeply,  more  able  to  raise  doubts  and  difficulties,  than 
Vol.  IV.  B  b 


373  B  E  K  K  E  R. 

to  solve  them.  He  was  not  endowed  with  the  external  gift? 
of  preaching,  and  though  he  was  skilled  in  mathematics, 
the  best  logic  in  the  world,  yet  his  sermons  w$re  not  very 
methodical ;  hut  then  they  were  suited  to  the  capacity  of  the 
vulgar,  and  he  was  always  ready  to  preach  extempore,  with- 
out preparation.  He  was  of  a  very  facetious  temper,  and 
sometimes  could  not  forbear  to  jest  even  in  the  pulpit.  It 
seems  he  had  the  vanity  of  becoming  the  head  of  a  sect  *r 
and  has  had  the  pleasure  to  see  that  his  followers  were 
called  from  his  name  Bekkerians.  Mr.  Bayle  calls  him  a 
rank  rationalist,  who,  preferring  philosophical  arguments 
before  the  authority  of  the  scripture,  put  such  a  sense  upon 
the  words  and  expressions  of  the  holy  writers,  as  favoured 
his  hypothesis."  The  reader  will  readily  perceive  much  in 
this  character  that  applies  to  free-thinkers  of  all  nations 
and  ages. 1 

BEL  (John  James),  counsellor  of  the  parliament  Of 
Bourdeaux,  was  born  there  March  21,  1693,  and  at  the 
age  of  nine  was  sent  for  education  to  the  college  of  the 
Oratory  at  Juilly,  in  the  diocese  of  Meaux.     Although  of 
a  weakly  habit,  he  made  great  progress  in  his  early  studies, 
and  was  liberally  encouraged  by  one  of  the  regent  masters, 
father  de  Viz6.     In  1711  he  returned  to  his  family,  where 
he  continued  his  studies,  deriving  some  assistance  from  his 
father,  a  man  of  talents,  but  austere  and  somewhat  unso- 
cial.    Here,  likewise,  he  found  many  young  men  of  his 
own  age  who  like  himself  were  intended  for  the  bar  or  for 
offices  of  the  magistracy.     After  five  or  six  years  applica- 
tion, M.  Bel  employed  his  pen  on  various  subjects  of  me- 
taphysics and  morals,  and  amused  himself  occasionally  with 
perusing  the  best  poets.     In  1720,  he  was  received  as  a 
counsellor  of  parliament,    and  conducted  himself  in   the 
causes  entrusted  to  him,  with  strict  probity  and  impar- 
tiality.    In  1731,  on  the  death  of  his  father,  he  succeeded 
him  in  the  office  of  treasurer  of  France.     During  his  resi- 
dence at  Paris,  he  formed  an  intimacy  with  the  literati  of 
the  metropolis,  and  projected  two  considerable  works,  for 
which  he  had  collected  materials :  the  one  on  taste,  its 
history,  progress  and  decline  %y  the  other  on  French  poetry. 
On  his  return  to  Bourdeaux  in  1736,  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Bourdeaux  academy,  and  the  following  year 
chosen  director,   on   which  occasion  be  made  a  speech 

*  Gen.  Diet.— MosheinVs  EccL  History.— Moreri  in  Bekker, — Saxii  OnoraasticwB. 


BEL.  371. 

which  included  some  part  of  the  work  on  talte  above-men- 
tioned. Some  time  afterwards  he  resigned  his  office  of 
counsellor,  and  obtained  letters  of  superannuation  (lettres 
de  veterUn).  In  1737,  the  academy  having  proposed  "  mus- 
cular motion1*  as  the  subject  of  the  prize  of  that  year,  which 
was  won  by  Mr.  Alexander  Stuart)  a  Scotchman,  and  phy- 
sician to  the  queen  o'fvEngland,  M.  Bel,  after  examining 
the  various  dissertations  sent  in  on  this  occasion,  read  one 
of  his  own  on  the  same  subject  before  the  academy ;  and 
in  order  to  study  this  and  similar  subjects  more  fully,  with 
a  view  to  his  situation  in  the  academy,  he  determined  to 
make  another  visit  to  Paris.  But  from  the  moment  of  his 
arrival  there,  he  gave  himself  up  so  unremittingly  to  study, 
as  to  bring  on  a  dangerous  illness,  of  which  he  died  August 
15,  1738.  He  left  to  the  academy  of  Bourdeaux,  his 
house  and  a  fine  and  well-chosen  library,  with  a  fund  for 
the  maintenance  of  two  librarians.  His  principal  publica- 
tions were,  1.  "  Apologie  de  M.  Houdart  de  la  Motte,  de 
1'academie  Frangoise,  Paris,  1724,"  8vo,  a  satirical  attack  on 
M.  de  la  Motte's  works,  especially  his  dramas.  2.  "  Dic- 
tionnaire  Neologique,"  since  considerably  augmented  by 
the  abb£  Fontaines,  a  work  intended  to  ridicule  the  use  of 
new  and  affected  words.  He  wrote  also  a  criticism  on  the 
Mariamne  of  Voltaire,  and  some  similar  criticisms  inserted 
in  the  Literary  Memoirs  published  by  father  Moletz  of  the 
oratory.  * 

BEL,  or  BELIUS  (Matthias),  born  at  Otsova  in  Hun- 
gary, in  1684,  studied  with  great  diligence  at  Halle,  where 
he  made  uncommon  proficiency  in  the  learned  languages., 
Being  returned  to  his  native  country,  he  excited  a  love  for 
the  belles-lettres  among  the  students  of  several  protestant 
colleges,  and  applied  himself  with  success  to  the  history  of 
Hungary.  Nicholas  Pajfi,  viceroy  of  that  country,  was  of 
great  assistance  to  him  in  his  inquiries,  by  granting  him  ac- 
cess to  a  variety  of  archives.  He  spent  the  major  part  of 
his  life  in  this  study,  and  died  in  the  year  1749.  His  prin- 
cipal works  are,  1.  "  De  vetere  Literatura  Hunno-scythica 
exercitatio,"  Leipsic,  1718,  4to,  a  learned  work.  2. '<  Hun- 
garian antiquae  et  novae  prodromus,"  Nuremberg,  1723, 
folio.  In  this  he  gives  the  plan  of  a  great  work  he  was  me- 
ditating, but  which  he  had  not  leisure  to  publish.  3.  "  De 
peregrinatiQne  linguae  Hungaricse  in  Europam."  4. "  Adpa- 

1  Moreri.— Diet.  Hist. 

BB2 


372  BEL. 

ratus  ad  bistoriam  Hungarian ;  sive,  OolleCtio  miscdlaiieat 
monumentarura  ineditorum  partim,  partial  editorum,  sed 
fugientium,"  Presburg,  several  volumes  in  folio,  1735— 
1746.  This  collection  of  historians  of  Hungary  is  adorned 
with  learned  and  well- written  prefaces.  5.  "  Amplissimae 
historico-criticse  Prsefationes  in  scriptores  rerum  Hungari- 
carum  veteres  ac  genuinos,"  3  vols,  in  folio.  6.  "  Notitia 
Hungarian  novae  historico- geographical '  Vienna,  1735  et 
ami.  seq.  4  vols,  folio,  with  maps.  A  work  of  much  learn- 
ing, and  executed  with  accuracy. 

His  son  Charles  Andkew,  who  died  by  his  own  band, 
in  1782,  was  in  1741  appointed  professor  extraordinary  of 
philosophy  at  JLeipsic,  and  in  1756  professor  of  poetry,  and 
librarian  to  the  university,  with  the  title  of  counsellor  of 
state.  He  wrote  "  De  vera  origine  et  epocha  Hunno- 
rum,"  1757,  4to,  and  was  editor  of  the  "  Acta  erudito- 
rum"  from  1754  to  1781.  *  # 

BELCARIUS.     See  BEAUCAIRE. 

BELCHIER  (John),  was  born  in  the  year  1706,  at 
Kingston  in  Surrey.  He  received  his  education  at  Eton ; 
and  discovering  an  inclination  for  surgery,  was  bound  ap- 
prentice to  Mr.  Cheselden,  by  far  the  most  eminent  man 
of  his  profession.  Under  this  great  master,  who  used  to 
say,  that  of  all  the  apprentices  he  ever  had  Mr.  Belchier 
was  the  most  industrious  and  assiduous,  he  soon  became  an 
accurate  anatomist.  His  preparations  were  esteemed  next 
to  Dr.  Nicholls's,  and  allowed  to  exceed  all  others  of  that 
time.  Thus  qualified,  his  practice  soon  became  extensive ; 
and  in  1736  he  succeeded  his  fellow-apprentice  Mr.  Crad- 
dock,  as  surgeon  to  Guy's  hospital.  In  this  situation,  which 
afforded  such  ample  opportunity  of  displaying  his  abilities, 
he,  by  his  remarkably  tender  and  kind  attention  to  his 
pauper  patients,  became  as  eminent  for  his  humanity  as 
bis  superior  skill  in  his  profession.  Like  his  master  Che- 
selden, he  was  very  reluctant  before  an  operation,  yet  quite 
as  successful  as  that  great  operator.  He  was  particularly  ex- 
pert in  the  reduction  of  the  humerus*  which,  though  a  very 
simply  operation,  is  frequently  productive  of  great  trouble 
to  the  surgeon,  as  well  as  excruciating  pain  to  the  patient. 
Being  elected  fellow  of  the  royal  society,  he  commu- 
nicated to  that  learned  body  several  curious  cases  that 
fell  within  his  cognizance ;  particularly  a  remarkable  cas$ 

*  Diet..  Hist. — Sftxii  Onomatticon. 


B  E  L  C  H  I  E  R.  873 

of  an  hydrops  ovarii,  published  in  the  Philosophical  Trans- 
actions, No.  423 ;  an  account  of  the  miller  whose  arm  was 
torn  off  by  a  mill,  August  15,1737,  No.  449  ;  and  a  remark- 
able instance  of  thebones  of  animals  being  turned  red  by  ali- 
ment only,  No.  442.     The  greatest  discoveries  frequently 
are  owing  to  trifling  and  accidental  causes.     Such  was  the 
case    in   the   last-mentioned  circumstance,   Mr.  Belchier 
being  led  to  make  his  inquiries  on  that  subject,  by  the  bone 
of  a  boiled  leg  of  pork  being  discovered  to  be  perfectly  red, 
though  the  meat  was  well-flavoured,  and  of  the  usual  colour. 
On  his  resignation  as  surgeon  of  Guy's,  he  was  made  go- 
vernor both  of  that  and  St.  Thomas's  hospital,  to  which  he 
was  particularly  serviceable,  having  recommended  not  less 
than  140' governors.     Mr.  Belchier  in  private  life  was  a 
riian  of  strict  integrity,  warm  and  zealous  in  his  attach- 
ments, sparing  neither  labour  nor  time  to  serve  those  for 
wfiom  he  professed  a  friendship.     Of  this  he  gave  a  strong 
proof,  in  becoming  himself  a  governor  of  the  London  hos- 
pital, purposely  to  serve  a  gentleman  who  had  been  his 
pupil.     Indeed,  he  on  every  occasion  was  particularly  de- 
sirous of  serving  those  who  had  been  under  his  care.     A 
man  of  such:  a  disposition  could  not  fail  of  being  caressed 
and  beloved  by  all  that  really  knew  him.     In  convervation 
he  was  entertaining,  and  remarkable  for  bons  mots,  which 
he  uttered  with  a  dry  laconic  bluntness  peculiar  to  himself; 
yet  under  this  rough  exterior  he  was  possessed  of  a  feeling 
and  compassionate  heart.     Of  the  latter,    his  constantly 
sending  a  plate  of  victuals  every  day,  during  his  confine- 
ment, to  a  man,  who,  having  gained  admittance  to  him,  pre- 
sented a  pistol  with  an  intent  to  rob  him,  and  whom   he 
seized  and  secured,  is  an  unquestionable  proof,  as  well  as 
of  his   personal   courage.     Such  were  his  gratitude  and 
friendship  too  for  those  of  his  acquaintance,  that  on  se- 
veral sheets  he  has  mentioned  their  names  with   some  le- 
gacy as  a  token   of  remembrance,  as   medals,  pictures, 
bqoks,  &c.  trinkets  and  preparations,  and  on  another  paper 
says  he  could  not  do  more,  having  a  family  of  children. 
Whenever  he  spoke  of  Mr.  Guy,  the  founder  of  the  hospi- 
tal, it  was  in  a  strain  of  enthusiasm,  which  he  even  carried 
so  far  as  to  saint  him.     A  gentleman  having  on  one  of  those 
occasions  begged  leave  to  remark,  that  he  had  nevea  before 
heard  of  St.  Guy,  Mr.  Belfchier,  in  his  sentimental  way,  re- 
piiedj  "  No,  sir: — p^rhaps-^yoii  may  not  find  his  name  iu 
the  calendar,  but  give  me  leave  to  tell  you,  that  he  has  a 


S74  '     BELCHIER. 

better  title  to  canonization  than  nine-tenths  of  those  whose 
names  are  there ;  some  of  them  may,  perhaps,  have  given 
sight  to  the  blind,  or  enabled  the  lame  to  walk ;  but  can  you 
quote  me  an  instance  of  one  of  them  bestowing  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  pounds  sterling  for  the  purpose  of 
relieving  his  fellow-creatures  ?"  Mr.  Belchier  was  a  great 
admirer  of  the  fine  arts,  and  lived  in  habits  of  intimacy 
with  the  principal  artists  of  his  time.  He  enjoyed  a  great 
share  of  health,  though  far  advanced  in  years.  A  friend 
of  his  being  some  time  since  attacked  with  epileptic  fits,  he 
exclaimed,  "  I  am  extremely  sorry  for  him,  but  when  I 
fall  I  hope  it  will  be  to  rise  no  more ;"  and  he  succeeded 
in  a  great  measure  in  his  wish,  for  being  taken  with  a  shi- 
vering fit  at  Batson's  coffee-house,  he  returned  home  and 
went  to  bed.  The  next  day  he  thought  himself  better, 
got  up,  and  attempted  to  come  down  stairs,  but  complained 
to  those  who  were  assisting  him,  th&t  they  hurried  him,  and 
immediately  after  exclaiming,  '<  It  is  all  over!" — fell  back 
and  expired.  His  body  was  interred  in  the  chapel  at  Guy's 
hospital.     He  died  in  1785. ! 

BELGRADO  (James),  an  eminent  Italian  mathemati- 
cian, was  born  at  Udina,  Nov*  16,  1704,  and  from  bis  in- 
fancy afforded  the  promise  of  being  an  ornament  to  his 
family  and  country.  At  Padua,  where  he  was  first  edu- 
cated, his  proficiency  was  extraordinary,  and  at  the  age  of 
nineteen  be  excited  considerable  attention  by  an  elegant 
Latin  oration  be  delivered  in  honour  of  cardinal  Barbadici. 
He  afterwards  entered  the  society  of  the  Jesuits  at  Udina, 
and  having  completed  his  noviciate,  went  to  Bologna,  and 
studied  mathematics  and  theology  at  Parma,  where  he  was 
appointed  professor  of  mathematics  and  had  the  direction  of 
the  observatory,  and  became  eminent  as  an  observer  of 
the  phenomena  of  nature,  and  a  profound  antiquary.  When 
the  society  of  tlfe-  Jesuits  was  suppressed,  Belgrado  went 
tp  Bologna,  and  was  appointed  rector  of  the  college  of  St, 
Lucia,  where,  and  in  other  parts  of  Italy,  he  occasionally 
resided  until  his  death  in  1789.  The  extent  and  variety 
of  his  knowledge  will  be  best  understood  by  a  list  of  his 
works*  1.  "  Gratulatio  Cardinali  J.  F.  Barbadico,  &c." 
already  noticed,  Padua,  1723.  2,  "Ad  disciplinam  Me- 
chaqicaqa,  Nauticam,  et  Geographicam  Acroasis  critica  et 
historica,"  Parma,  1741.  3.  "  Ad  disciplinam  Hydrosta-r 
ticam  Acroasis  historica  et  critica,"  ibid,  1742.    4.  "P§ 

I  Preceding  edition  Qf  this  Dictionary, 


BEL  G'R  A  D  O.  375 

mltitudine  Atmosphere  sestimanda  critica  disquisitio,"  ib. 
1 743.  5.  "  De  Phialis  vitreis  ex  minimi  silicis  casa  dissilien- 
tibus  Acroasis,"  Padua,  1743.  6.  "  De  Gravitatis  legibus 
Acroasis  Physico-mathematica,"  Parma,  1744.  7.  "  De  vita 
B.  Torelli  Puppiensiscommentarius,"  Padua,  1745.  8.  "  De 
corporis  elasticis  disquisit.  physico-mathem."  Parma,  1747. 
9.  "  Observatio  Solis  defectus  et  Lun«,"  Parma,  1 748.  10. 
"  I  fenomeni  Elettrici  con  i  corollari  da  lor  dedotti,"  Par- 
ma, 1749.  ll.  "  Ad  Marchionem  Scipionem  Maphejum 
epistolsB  quatuor,"  Venice,  1749.  12.,  "  Delia  Reflessione 
de  Gorpi  dall'  Acqua,"  &c.  Parma,  1753.  13.  "  Observa- 
tio defectus  Lunae  habita  die  30  Julii  in  novo  observatorio, 
1757."  14.  "  Dell'  azione  del  caso  nelle  invenzioni,  e 
dell'  influsso  degli  Astri  ne*  corpi  terrestri,  dissertationi 
due,"  Padua,  1757.  15.  "  Observatio  defectus  Luna,'1 
Parma,  1761.  16.  "  De  utriusque  Analyseos  usu  in  re 
physjca,"  voL  II.  ibid.  1761.  17.  "  Delle  senzazioni  del 
calore,  e  del  freddo,  disserta2tone,"  ibid.  1764.  18.  "II 
Trono  di  Nettuno  illustrate,"  Cesene,  1766.  19.  "  Theo- 
ria  Cochleae  Arcbimedis,"  Parma,  1767.  20.  "  Disserta- 
zione  sopra  i  Torrenti,"  ibid.  1768.  21.  "  Delia  Rapidita 
delle  idee  dissertazione,"  Modena,  1770.  22.  "  Delia 
proporzione  tra  i  talenti  dell9  Uomo,  e  i  loro  usi,  disserta- 
zione," Padua,  1773.  23.  "  De  Telluris  viriditate,  dis- 
sertatio,"  Udina,  1777.  24.  "  Delia  Esistenza  di  Dioda' 
Teoremi  Geometrici  dimostrata,  dissert."  Udina,  1777. 
125.  "  Dall'  Esistenza  d'una  sola  specie  d'e»seri  ragione- 
voli  e  liberi  si  arguisce  1' Esistenza  di  Dio,  dissertazione," 
ibid.  1782.  26.  "  Del  Sole  bisoguevole  d'alimento,  e  deli* 
Oceano  abile  a  procacciarglielo,  dissert.  Fisico-matema- 
tica,"  Ferrara,  1783.  27.  "  Dell*  Architettura  Egiziana, 
dissert."  Parma,  1786.  He  left  also  several  manuscript 
works,  and  published  some  pieces  in  the  literary  journals, 
being  a  correspondent  of  the  academy  of  sciences  at  Paris, 
and  a  member  of  the  institute  of  Bologna.1 

BELGRAVE  (Richard),  a  writer  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, of  the  ancient  family  of  the  Belgraves  in  Leicester- 
shire, was  born  at  the  town  of  Belgrave,  about  a  mile  from 
Leicester,  and  educated  in  the  university  of  Cambridge, 
where  he  applied  himself  with  great  diligence  and  success 
to  his  studies,  and  afterwards  took  the  degree  of  D.D. 
He  entered  himself  into  the  order  of  Carmelite  friars,  and 
distinguished  himself  by  his  great  skill  in  the  Aristotelian 

i  Fafcroni  Vita  Italorum,— Diet.  Hilt.— MazzuchtUi. 


376  BELGfeAVE. 

philosophy  and  school-divinity,  but  he  was  more  remark* 
able  for  the  strength  and  subtilty  of  his  lectures,  than  the 
elegance  of  his  style,  the  study  of  polite  literature  being 
generally  neglected  in  that  age.  Pits  gives  him  the  cha- 
racter of  a  man  of  eminent  integrity  arid  piety.  He 
flourished  in  1320,  under  the  reign  of  king  Edward  II.  and 
wrote,  among  other  works,  "  Theological  Determinations, 
in  one  book ;"  the  subject  of  which  was,  Utrum  Essentia 
Divina  possit  videri  ?  Whether  the  Divine  Essence  could 
be  seen  ?  and  "  Ordinary  Questions,  in  one  book.''  This 
single  question,  concerning  the  Divine  Essence,  is  enough 
to  shew  the  inutility  of  the  inquiries  and  studies  which  en- 
gaged the  attention  of  men  in  that  age. l 

BELIDOR  (Bernard  Forest  de),  a  member  of  the 
academies  of  sciences  of  Paris  and  Berlin,  was  born  in  Ca- 
talonia in  1697.  Being  left  an  orphan  at  the  age  of  five 
years,  he  was  educated  by  an  engineer,  a  friend  of  hi?  fa- 
ther's family,  and  very  early  discovered  a  genius  for  ma- 
thematics, In  the  course  of  time  he  was  appointed  royal 
professor  of  the  schools  of  artillery  of  la  Fere,  and  super- 
intended the  education  of  some  scholars  who  proved  worthy 
of  him.  His  success  in  this  situation  procured  him  also 
the  place  0f  provincial  commissary  of  artillery,  but  here  his 
zeal  cost  him  both  places.  Having  discovered  by  some 
experiments  that  a  smaller  quantity  of  powder  was  sufficient 
to  load  ^  cannon  than  commonly  employed  :  that,  for  ex- 
ample, eight  pounds  of  powder  would  produce  the  same 
effect  as  twelve,  which  was  the  usual  quantity,  he  thought 
to  pay  court  to  the  cardinal  de  Fleury,  then  prime  minister, 
by  communicating  to  him  in  private  a  scheme  by  which  go- 
yernment  might  make  so  important  a  saving.  The  cardinal, 
ivho  was  partial  to  all  schemes  of  .economy,  listened  with 
pleasure  to  this  of  Belidor,  and  spoke  of  it  to  the  prince 
de  Dombes,  who  was  master  of  the  ordnance.  The  prince 
was  astonished  that  a  mathematician,  who  served  under  him, 
and  on  whom  he  had  conferred  favours,  should  not  have 
communicated  this  to  him,  and  irritated  by  what  he  con- 
sidered as  a  mark  of  disrespect,  dismissed  him  from  the 
fiosts  he  held,  and  obliged  him  to  leave  la  Fere.  De  Val- 
iere,  lieutenant-general  of  artillery,  took  upon  him  on  this 
occasion  to  justify  the  prince's  conduct,  in  a  printed  me- 
jaaoriftl,  and  endeavoured  at  the  same  time  to  refute  Beli* 

*  Biogt  Britannica. 


BEL'lDOR.  377 

dor's  opinion  and  experiments,  with  what  success  we  are 
not  told.  Belidor,  however,  originally  born  without  for- 
tune, was  now  stripped  of  the  little  he  bad  acquired  by  his 
talents,  and  might  probably  have  remained  in  poverty,  had 
not  the  prince  of  Conti,  who  knew  bis  merit,  taken  him 
with  him  to  Italy,  and  bestowed  on  him  tbe  cross  of  St. 
Lewis,  an  honour  which  procured  him  some  notice  at  court. 
The  marshal  Bellisle  engaged  him  in  his  service,  and  when 
war-minister,  appointed  him  to  the  office  of  inspector  of 
artillery,  and  gave  him  apartments  in  the  arsenal  at  Paris, 
where  he  died  in  1761.  During  his  laborious  and  chec- 
quered  life,  he  found  leisure  to  write,  1.  "  Sommaire  d'ua 
cours  d' architecture  militaire,  civil  et  hydraulique,"  1720, 
12mo.  2.  "  Nouveau  cours  de  Mathematique,  a  r usage  de 
PArtillerie  et  du  Genie,"  4to,  Paris,  1725,  a  work  previa 
ously  examined  by  a  committee  of  the  academy  of  sci- 
ences, and  approved  and  recommended  by  them.  3.  "  La 
Science  des  ingenieurs,"  1729,  4to.  4.  "  Le  Bombardier 
Francoise,"  1731,  4to.  5.  "Architecture  Hydraulique," 
1735 — 1737,  4  vols.  4to.  6.  u  Dictionnaire  portatif  de 
l'ingenieur,"  1738,  8vo.  8.  "  Trait<S  des  Fortifications,"  2 
vols.  4to.  9.  "  La  science  des  Ingenieurs  dans  la  conduite 
des  travaux  des  Fortifications,"  1749,  4to.  His  biogra- 
pher says  that  the  most  of  these  works  are  useful,  but  that 
Belidor  was  not  a  mathematician  of  the  first  order.  * 

BELING  (Richard),  was  born  in  1613,  at  Belings- 
towDj;  in  the  barony  of  Balrothery  in  the  county  of  Dublin, 
the  son  of  sir  Henry  Beling*  knight,  and  was  educated  in 
his  younger  years'  at  a  grammar-school  in  the  city  of  Dub- 
lin, but  afterwards  put  under  the  tuition  of  some  priests  of 
his  own  religion,  which  was  Popish,  who  so  well  cultivated 
his  good  genius,  that  they  taught  him  to  write  in  a  fluent 
and  elegaot  Latiu  style.  Thus  grounded  in  the  polite 
parts  of  literature,  his  father  removed  him  to  Lincoln's  I nn, 
to  study  the  municipal  laws  of  his  country,  where  he  abode 
some  years,  and  returned  home  a  very  accomplished 
gentleman,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  he  ever  made  the 
law  a  profession.  His  natural  inclination  inclining  him  to 
arms,  he  early  engaged  in  the  rebellion  of  1641,  and  though 
but  about  twenty-eight  years  old,  was  then  an  officer  of 
considerable  rank.  He  afterwards  became  a  leading  mem-? 
ber  in  the  supreme  council  of  the  confederated  Roman 

*    *  Diet  Hist  hi  which  the  dates  of  BeHdor's  workg  are  erroneous,  nor  art 
w*  quite  certain  that  we  have  been  able  to,  eonrect  tbern  accurately. 


378  BELING. 

catholics  at  Kilkenny,  to  which  be  was  principal  secretary,  and 
was  sent  ambassador  to  the  pope  and  other  Italian  princes  in 
1645,  to  crave  aid  for  the  support  of  their  cause.  He  brought 
back  with  him  a  fatal  present  in  the  person  of  the  nuncio, 
John  Baptist  Rinuccini,  .archbishop  and  prince  of  Fermo ; 
who  was  the  occasion  of  reviving  the  distinctions  between 
the  old  Irish  of  blood,  and  the  old  English  of  Irish  birth, 
which  split,  that  party  into  factions,  prevented  all  peace 
with  the  marquis  of  Ormond,  and  ruined  the  country  he 
'  was  sent  to  save.  When  Mr.  Beling  had  fathomed  the 
mischievous  schemes  of  the  nuncio  and  his  party,  nobody 
was  more  zealous  than  he  in  opposing  their  measures,  and 
in  promoting  the  peace  then  in  agitation,  and  submitting 
to  the  king's,  authority,  which  he  did  with  such  cordiality, 
that  he  became  very  acceptable  to  the  marquis  of  Ormond, 
who  intrusted  him  with  many  negociations.  When  the 
parliament  army  had  subdued  the  royal  army,  Mr.  Beling 
retired  to  France,  where  he  continued  several  years.  His 
account  of  the  transactions  of  Ireland  during  the  period  of 
the  rebellion,  is  esteemed  by  judicious  readers  more  worthy 
of  crtedit  than  any  written  by  the  Romish  party,  yet  he  is 
not  free  from  a  partiality  to  the  cause  he  at  first  embarked 
in.  He  returned  home  upon  the  restoration,  and  was  repos- 
sessed of  his  estate  by  the  favour  and  interest  of  the  duke 
of  Ormond.  He  died  in  Dublin  in  September  1677,  and 
was  buried  in  the  church-yard  of  Malahidert,  about  five 
miles  from  that  city.  During  his  retirement  in  France,  he 
wrote  in  Latin,  in  two  books,  "  Vindiciarum  Catholicorum 
Hiberniae,"  under  the  name  of  Philopater  Irenaeus,  the  first 
of  which  gives  a  pretty  accurate  history  of  Irish  affairs,  from 
1641  to  1649,  and  the  second  is  a  confutation  of  an  epistle 
written  bj*  Paul  King,  a  Franciscan  friar  and  a  nunciotist, 
in  defence  of  the  Irish  rebellion.  This  book  of  Mr.  Be- 
ling's  being  answered  by  John  Ponce,  a  Franciscan  friar 
also,  and  a  most  implacable  enemy  to  the  Protestants  of 
Ireland,  in  a  tract  entitled  '<  Belingi  Vindiciae  eversae,n 
our  author  made  a  reply,  which  he  published  .under  the 
title  of  "  Annotationes  in  Johannis  Poncii  librum,  cui  titu- 
lus,  Vindiciae  Eversae :  accesserunt  Belingi  Vindiciee,"  Pa- 
risiis,  1654,  8vo.  He  wrote  also  a  vindication  of  himself 
against  Nicholas  French,  titular  bishop  of  Ferns,  under  the 
title  of  "  Innocentiae  suae  impetitae  per  Reverendissimum 
JTernensem  vjpdiciae,"  Paris,  1652,  12mo,  dedicated  to  tbe 
clergy  of  Ireland;  and  is  reported  to  have  written  a  poem 


B  E  L  I  N  G.  379 

» 

called*"  The  Eighth  Day,"  which  has  escaped  our  searches. 
When  a  student,  however,  at  Lincoln's  Inn,  he  wrote  and 
added  a  sixth  book  to  sir  Philip  Sidney's  Arcadia,  which 
was  printed  with  that  romance,  London,  1633,  folio,  with 
only  the  initials  of  his  name.  * 

BELIUS.     See  BEL. 

BELL  (Beauprb),  an  English  antiquary,  was  son  of 
Beaupre  Bell,  esq.  of  Beaupri-hall  in  Upwell  and  Outwell 
in  Clackclose  hundred,  Norfolk,  where  the  Beaupr€  family 
had  settled  early  in  the  fourteenth  century,  and  enjoyed  the 
estate  by  the  name  of  Beaupr£  (or  de  Bello  prato)  till  sir 
Robert  Bell  intermarried  with  them  about  the  middle  of 
the  sixteenth.  Sir  Robert  was  speaker  of  the  honse  of 
commons,  14  Eliz.  and  chief  baron  of  the  exchequer;  and 
caught  his  death  at  the  black  assize  at  Oxford,  1577. 
Beaupr6  Bell,  his  fourth  lineal  descendant,  married  Marga- 
ret, daughter  of  sir  Anthony  Oldfield  of  Spalding,  bart.  who 
died  1720,  and  by  whom  he  had  issue  his  namesake  the 
subject  of  this  article,  and  two  daughters,  of  whom  the 
youngest  married  William  Graves,  esq.  of  Fulborn  in  Cam- 
bridgeshire, who  thereby  inherited  the  family  estate  near 
Spalding,  with  the  site  of  the  abbey.  Mr.  Bell,  junior,  was 
educated  at  Westminster  school,  admitted  of  Trinity-col- 
lege, Cambridge,  1723,  and  soon  commenced  a  genuine 
and  able  antiquary.  He  made  considerable  collections  of 
church  notes  in  his  own  and  the  neighbouring  counties,  all 
which  he  bequeathed  to  the  college  where  he  received  his 
education.  Mr,  Blomfield  acknowledges  his  obligations  to 
him  for  collecting  many  evidences,  seals,  and  drawings,  of 
great  use  to  him  in  his  "  History  of  Norfolk." 

His  father  led  a  miserable  life,  hardly  allowing  his  son 
necessaries,  and  -dilapidated  his  house,  while  at  the  same 
time  he  had  five  hundred  horses  of  his  own  breeding, 
many  above  thirty  years  old,  unbroke.  On  his  death  his 
son  succeeded  to  his  estate,  of  about  1 500/.  a-year,  which 
he  did  not  long  enjoy,  dying  of  a  consumption,  on  the  road 
to  Bath,  August,  1745;  He  left  the  reversion,  after  the 
death  of  his  sister,  with  his  books  and  medals,  to  Trinity* 
college,  under  the  direction  of  the-  late  vice-master,  Dr. 
Walker;  but  his  sister  marrying,  the  entail  was  cut  off. 
He  was  burifed  in  the  family  burying-place,  in  St.  Mary's 
chapel  in  Outwell- church. 

*  Biog.  Brit 


£80  BELL 

The  registers  of  the  Spalding  society  abound  with  proofs 
of  Mr.  Bell's  taste  and  knowledge  in  ancient  coins,  both 
(Greek  and  Roman,  besides  many  other  interesting  disco- 
veries. He  published  proposals,  elegantly  printed,  for  the 
following  work,  at  5s.  the  first  subscription,  "  Tabulae 
Augusts,  sive  Imperatorum  Romanorum,  Augustorum, 
Caesarum,  Tyrannorum,  et  illustrium  virorum  a  Cn.  Pom- 

Eeio  Magno  ad  Heraclium  Aug.  series  chronologica.  Ex 
istoricis,  nummis,  et  marmoribus  collegit  Beaupreius 
Bell,  A.M.  Cantabrigian,  typis  academicis  1734,"  which 
was  in  great  forwardness  in  1733,  and  on  which  Mr.  John- 
sen  communicated  his  observations.  Mr.  Bell  conceived 
that  coins  might  be  distinguished  by  the  hydrostatical 
balance,  and  supposed  the  flower  on  the  Rhodian  coins  to 
be  the  lotus,  but  Mr,  Johnson  the  halaustrum,  or  pomegra- 
nate flower.  He  sent  the  late  unhappy  Dr.  Dodd  notes 
concerning  the  life  and  writings  of  Callimachus,  with  a 
drawing  of  his  head,  to  be  engraved  by  Vertue,  and  pre- 
fixed to  his  translation  of  that  poet.  He  made  a  cast  of  the 
profile  of  Dr.  Stukeley,  prefixed  to  his  "  Itinerarium/'  and 
an  elegant  bust  of  Alexander  Gordon,  after  the  original 
given  by  him  to  sir  Andrew  Fountaine's  niece.  He  com* 
xnunicated  to  the  Spalding  society,  an  account  of  Outwell 
church,  and  the  Haultoft  family  arms,  in  a  border  engrailed 
liable  a  lossenge  Ermine,  quartering  Fincham,  in  a  chapel 
at  the  east  end  of  the  north  aile.  .  He  collected  a  series  of 
nexus  literarum,  or  abbreviations*.  He  had  a  portrait  of  sir 
Thomas  Gresham,  by  Hilliard,.  when  young,  in  a  close 
green  silk  doublet,  hat,  and  plaited  ruff,  1540  or  1545, 
formerly  belonging  to  sir  Marmaduke  Gresham,  bart.  then 
to  Mr.  Philip,  filazer,  by  whose  widow,  a  niece  to  sir  Mar- 
maduke, it  came  to  sir  Anthony  Oidfield,  and  so  to  Maurice 
Johnson.  He  addressed  verses  on  "  Color  est  connata  lu- 
cis  proprietas,"  to  sir  Isaac  Newton,  who  returned  him  a 
present  of  his  "  Philosophy,"  sumptuously  bound  by 
Brindley.    " 

The  late  Mr.  Cole,  of  the  Fen-office,  editor  of  the  second 
edition  of  sir  William  Dugdale's  ."  History  of  Embanking," 
1772,  tells  us  that  this  edition  was  printed  from  two-copies 
of  the  old  one,  one  corrected  by.  sir  William  himself,  the 
other  by  Be^upre*  Bell,  esq.  "  a  diligent  and  learned  anti- 
quary, who  had  also  made  some  corrections  in  his  own  copy/ 
now  in  Trinity  college  library."  See  his  letters,  dated 
Beaupr£  hall,  May  11,  and  July  SO,  1731,  to  T.  Hearne, 


BUL  331 

about  the  pedlar  in  Swaffham  church,  a  febus  on  the  name 
of  Chapman,  prefixed  to  Hemingford,  p.  1 80,  and  preface, 
p.  113.  See  also,  on  the  same  subject,  preface  to  Caius, 
p.  xlvii.  and  lxxxiv.  and  the  speech  of  Dr.  Spencer,  vice* 
chancellor  of  Cambridge,  to  the  duke  of  Monmouth,  when 
he  was  installed  chancellor,  1674,ib,lxxxVi.  In  p.  lii,  Hearne 
styles  him  "  Amicus  eruditus,  cui  et  aliis  nominibus  me 
devinctum  esse  gratus  agnosco."  He  also  furnished  him 
with  a  transcript,  in  his  own  hand -writing,  of  bishop  God- 
win's catalogue  of  the  bishops  of  Bath  and  Wells,  from  the 
original  in  Trinity  college  library  ;  App.  to  Ann.  de  Dun- 
stable, 835,  837.  A  charter  relating  to  St.  Edmund's 
Bury  abbey.  Bened.  Abbas,  p.  865,  The  epitaph  of  E» 
Beckingham,  in  Bottisham  church,  in  -Cambridgeshire, 
Pref.  to  Otterboume's  Chron.  p.  82.  App.  to  Trokelow, 
p.  378.  Papers,  &c.  of  his  aire  mentioned  in  Bibl.  Top. 
Brit.  No,  II.  p.  57,  58,  62.  Walsingham  church  notes,  p.  59/ 
entered  in  the  Minutes ;  a  paper  on  the  Clepsydra,  p.  60 ; 
and  five  of  his  letters  to  Mr.  Blomfield  are  printed,  pp.  290, 
465 — 472;  one  to  Dr.  Z.  Grey,  p.  147  ;  one  to  Mr.  N. 
Salmon,  p.  150;  others  to  Mr.  Gale,  pp.  169,  191,  302 — 
305  ;  to  Dr.  Stukeley,  p.  176,  178.  See  also  pp.  176,  178, 
181,  465,  469,  470,  471.  In  Archaeologia,  vol.  VI.  pp. 
133,  139,  141,  143,  are  some  letters  between  him  and  Mr. 
Gale,  on  a  Roman  horologium  mentioned  in  an  inscription 
found  at  Taloire,  a  poor  small  village  in  the  district  and  on 
the  lake  of  Annecey,  &c.  communicated  to  him  by  Mr. 
Cramer,  professor  of  philosophy  and  mathematics. ! 

BELL  (William),  archdeacon  of  St.  Alban's,  was  born: 
in  the  parish  of  St.  Dunstan's  in  the  West,  London,  Feb. 
4,  1625,  and  educated  at  Merchant  Taylor's  school,  whence 
he  was  elected  scholar  of  St  John's  college,  Oxford,  in 
1643,  and  afterwards  fellow.  In  1648,  before  which  he 
had  taken  his  bachelor's  degree,  he  was  ejected  by  the  re- 
publicans (who  then  took  possession  of  the  university),  and 
afterwards  travelled  for  some  time  in  France.  About  1655 
he  had  a  small  benefice  in  Norfolk  conferred  upon  him, 
but  was  not  admitted  by  the  triers,  or  persons  appointed 
by  the  ruling  party,  to  examine  the  qualifications  of  the 
clergy.  At  the  restoration,  however,  he  became  chaplain 
in  the  Tower  of  London,  and  the  year  after  was  created 
B.  D.     In  1662  he  was  presented,  by  St.  John's  college,  to 

1  Last  edition  of  this  Diet,  from  the  History  of  the  Gentlemen's  Society  at 
Spalding,  and  Nicbels's  Life  of  Bowyer. 


382  BELL 

the  vicarage  of  St.  Sepulchre's,  London,  and  in  1665  waa 
promoted  to  a  prebendal  stall  in  St.  Paul's,  by  Dr.  Hench- 
man, bishop  of  London.  In  1667  he  was  farther  promoted 
to  the  archdeaconry  of  St.  Alban's  by  the  same  patron,  and 
appointed  one  of  his  Majesty's  chaplains  in  ordinary.  In 
1668  he  proceeded  D.  D.  and  for  his  learning  and  oratory 
was  preferred  to  be  one  of  the  lecturers  of  the  Temple, 
In  his  parish  he  was  highly  popular,  and  his  death,  which 
took  place  July  19,  1683,  was  deeply  regretted  by  hi* 
flock.  His  only  publications  were  a  few  occasional  sermons* 
enumerated  by  Anth.  Wood.  * 

BEl^LA  (Stefano  de  la),  an  eminent  engraver,  was 
born  at  Florence  in  1610.  His  father  was  a  goldsmith, 
and  instructed  his  son  in  the  same  business ;  but  while,  for 
the  purposes  of  his  trade,  he  was  learning  to  draw,  some  of 
Callot's  prints,  which  he  had  accidentally  seen,  gave  a  turn 
to  his  disposition,  and  he  prevailed  on  his  father  to  allow 
him  to  learn  engraving.  His  first  master,  Canta  Gallina, 
had  also  been  the  master  of  Callot,  and  our  young  pupil, 
after  contenting  himself  for  some  time  with  an  imitation  of 
Callot,  struck  out  a  manner  of  his  own,  equally,  if  not 
more  remarkable  for  freedom  and  spirit.  In  1642  he  went 
to  Paris,  where  he  formed  an  acquaintance  with  Israel  Syl- 
vestre,  then  newly  returned  from  Rome,  and  was  much 
employed  by  the  uncle  of  that  artist.  Some  time  after, 
cardinal  Richelieu  engaged  him  to  go  to  Arras,  to  make 
drawings  of  the  siege,  &c.  of  that  town  by  the  royal  army, 
which  he  engraved  at  his  return.  From  a  considerable  re- 
sidence at  Paris  he  returned  to  Florence,  where  the  grand 
duke  gave  him  a  pension,  and  appointed  him  to  instruct 
his  son,  the  prince  Cosmo,  in  the  art  of  design ;  but  his 
progress  in  his  profession  had  been  for  some  time  much 
impeded  by  continual  head-aches,  which  at  last  terminated 
his  life  in  1664.  Without  entering  into  the  dispute  so 
frequently  agitated,  respecting  the  comparative  merits  of 
De  la  Bella  and  Callot,  it  may  be  affirmed  that  De  la  Bella, 
drew  very  correctly,  and  with  great  taste.  His  works  mani- 
fest, much  genius  and  fertility  of  invention.  The  fire  and 
animation  which  appears  in  them  compensates  for  their 
slightness ;  and  some  degree  of  slightness  seems  pardonable 
in  an  artist  who- is  said  to  have  engraved  no  less  than  four* 
teen  hundred  plates.  * 

1  Ath.  Ox.  vd.  II.  p.  7J5.  *  Stratfr  Diet.— Diet.  Hist. 


BELLAMY.  383 

BELLAMY  (Thomas),  an  English  miscellaneous  writer, 
was  born  in  1745,  at  Kingston  in  Surrey,  and  educated  for 
trade.  After  serving  an  apprenticeship  to  a  hosier  in  New* 
gate-street,  London,  he  established  a  considerable  business 
for  himself,  which  he  carried  on  successfully,  until  he  be- 
gan to  pay  rather  too  much  attention  to  literary  pursuits, 
and  after  keeping  shop  for  twenty  years,  was  obliged 
finally  to  relinquish  his  trade.  He  became  afterwards  the 
projector  of  the  "  Monthly  Mirror,9'  a  periodical  publica- 
tion principally  devoted  to  the  business  of  the  stage,  and 
which  was  carried  on  by  him  for  some  years  with  spirit  and 
success.  He  published  also  "  Sadaski,  or  the  wandering 
penitent/9  2  vols.  12mo,  a  novel  in  Dr.  Hawkesworth's 
manner,  and  possessing  considerable  merit.  For  the  stage 
he  wrote,  "  The  Friends,  or  the  benevolent  Planters," 
1789,  a  musical  interlude ;  and  for  young  people,  "Les- 
sons from  Life,  or  Home  scenes."  On  the  death  of  his 
mother  he  became  possessed  of  some  property,  and  was  in 
the  quiet  pursuit  of  his  literary  schemes,  when  a  short  but 
severe  illness  carried  him  off,  August  29,  1800. ! 

BELLARMIN  (Robert),  an  Italian  Jesuit,  and  one  of 
the  most  celebrated  controversial  writers  of  his  time,  was 
born  in  Tuscany,  1542,  and  admitted  amongst  the  Jesuits 
in  1560.  In  1569  he  was  ordained  priest,  at  Ghent,'  by 
Cornelius  Jansenius*  and  the  year  following  taught  divinity 
at  Louvain.  After  having  lived  seven  years  in  the  Low 
Countries,  he  returned  to  Italy,  and  in  1576  began  to  read 
lectures  at  Rome  on  points  of  controversy.  This  he  did 
with  so  much  applause,  that  Sixtus  Y.  appointed  him  to 
accompany  his  legate  into  France,  in  1590,  as  a  person 
who  might  be  of  great  service,  in  case  of  any  dispute  con* 
cerning  religion.  He  returned  to  Rome  about  ten  months 
after,  where  he  had  several  offices  conferred  on  him  by  his 
own  society  as  well  as  by  the  pope,  and  in  1599  was  created 
cardinal.  Three  years  after,  he  had  the  archbishopric  of 
Capua  given  him,  which  he  resigned  in  1605,  when  pope 
Paul  V.  desired  to  have  him  near  himself.  He  was  now 
employed  in  the  affairs  of  the  court  of  Rome,  till  1621, 
when,  finding  himself  declining  in  health,  he  left  the  Va- 
tican, and  retired  to  the  house  belonging  to  the  Jesuits, 
where  he  died  the  17th  of  Sept.  1621.  It  appeared  on 
the  day  of  his  funeral  that  he  was  regarded  as  a  saint^  and 

1  Bioj.  Dramatic*. 


38*  BELLARMIN, 

the  Swiss  guards  belonging  to  the  pope  were  obliged  to  be 
placed  round  his  coffin,  in  order  to  keep  off  the  crowd,' 
which  pressed  to  touch  and  kiss  the  body ;  but  they  could 
not  prevent  every  thing  he  made  use  of  from  being  carried 
away  a  venerable  felic. 

It  is  generally  allowed  that  Bellarmin  did  great  honour 
to  his  order,  and  that  no  man  ever  defended  the  church  of 
Rome  and  the  pope  with  more  success.  The  Protestants 
have  so  far  acknowledged  his  abilities,  that  during  the 
space  of  forty  or  fifty  years,  there  was  scarce  any  consider- 
able divine  amongst  them,  who  did  not  think  it  necessary 
to  write  against  Bellarmin,  and  some  of  his  antagonists  ac- 
cused him  without  much  foundation,  in  their  publications, 
a  circumstance  from  which  his  party  derived  great  advan- 
tage. Bellarmin,  however,  though  a  strenuous  advocate 
for  the  Romish  religion,  did  not  agree  with  the  doctrine  of 
the  Jesuits  in  some  points,  particularly  that  of  predestina- 
tion, nor  did  he  approve  of  many  expressions  in  the  Ro- 
mish litanies j  and  notwithstanding  he  allowed  many  pas- 
sages in  his  writings  to  be  altered  by  his  superiors,  yet  in- 
several  particulars  ne  followed  the  opinions  of  St.  Augustin. 
He  wrote  most  of  his  works  in  Latin,  the  principal  of  which 
is  his  body  of  controversy,  consisting  of  four  volumes  in 
folio;  the  best  edition  that  of  Cologne,  1615.  He  there 
bandies  the  questions  in  divinity  with  great  method  and 
precision,  stating  the  objections  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Ro- 
mish church  with  strength  and  perspicuity,  and  answering 
them  in  the  most  concise  manner.  Some  of  the  Roman 
Catholics  have  been  of  opinion,  that  their  religion  has 
been  hurt  by  his  controversial  writings,  the  arguments  of 
the  heretics  not  being  confuted  with  that  superiority  and 
triumph,  which,  they  imagined,  the  goodness  of  the  cause* 
merited.  Father  Theophilus  Raynaud  acknowledges  some 
persons  to  have  been  of  opinion,-  that  Bellarmin's  writings 
ought  to  be  suppressed,  because  the  Protestants  might' 
make  an  ill  use  of  them,  by  taking  what  they  found  in 
them  for  their  purpose,  and  the  Catholics  might  be  de- 
luded t>y  not  understanding  the  answers  to  the  objections.' 
Hence  it  was  that  our  countryman,  sir  Edward  Sandys,  not 
being  able  to  meet  with  Bellarmin's  works  in  any  booksel- 
ler's shop  in  Italy,  concluded  that  they  were  prohibited, 
lest  they  should  spread  the  opinions  which  the  author  con-' 
futes.  Besides  his  "body  of  controversy,  he  wrote  also  se- 
veral other  books.     He  has  left  us  a  "  Commentary  on  the 


BELLARMIN.  585 

Psalms;"  "  A  biography  of  Ecclesiastical  Writers ;•'  "  A 
discourse  on  Indulgences,  and  the  Worship  of  Images ;" 
Two  treatises  in  answer  to  a  work  of  James  I.  of  England ; 
"  A  dissertation  on  the  Power  of  the  Pope  in  temporal 
.matters,"  against  William  Barclay;  and  several  treatises 
on  devotion,  the  best  of  which  is  that  on  the  duties  of 
bishops,  addressed  to  the  bishops  of  France. 

Notwithstanding  the  zeal  which  Bellarmin  had  shewed  in 
maintaining  the  power  of  the  pope  over  the  temporalities  . 
of  kings,  yet  his  book  "  De  Romano  Pontifice"  was  con- 
demned by  Sixtus  V.  who  thought  he  had  done  great  pre- 
judice to  the  dignity  of  the  pope,  by  not  insisting  that  the' 
power  which  Jesus  Christ  gave  to  his  vicegerent,  was  di- 
rect, but  only  indirect.  What  he  wrote  against  William 
Barclay  upon  the  same  subject,  was  treated  with  great  in- 
dignity in  France,  as  being  contrary  to  the  ancient  doc- 
trine, and  the  rights  of  the  Gallican  church. 

Bellarmin  is  said  to  have  been  a  man  of  great  chastity 
and  temperance,  and  remarkable  for  his  patience.  His 
stature  was  low,  and  his  mien  very  indifferent,  but  his  ta- 
lents and  acuteness  might  be  discoverediftam  the  traces  of 
his  countenance.  He  always  expressed  himself  with  great 
perspicuity,  and  the  words  he  first  made  use  of  to  explain 
his  thoughts  were  generally  so  proper,  or  at  least  so  satis- 
factory to  himself,  that  there  appeared  no  rasure  in  his 
writings.  He  has  been  attacked  and  defended  by  so  many 
writers,  that  a  catalogue  has  been  drawn  up  of  both  par- 
ties, and  a  list  of  his  defenders  was  composed  by  Beraldus, 
an  Italian.  His  life  has  been  written  by  James  Fuligati, 
and  many  particulars  relating  to  him  may  likewise  be  found 
in  Alegambus,  Possevinus,  Sponde,  &c.  * 

BELLAY  (Joachim  jdu),  a  celebrated  French  poet, 
cousin  to  the  Bellays  to  be  noticed  afterwards,  was  born 
about  1524  at  Lire,  a  town  about  eight  leagues  from 
Angers.  Being  left  an  orphan  at  a  very  early  age,  he  was 
committed  to  the  guardianship  of  bis  elder  brother,  who 
neglected  to  cultivate  the  talents  he  evidently  possessed, 
and  although  he  soon  discovered  an  equal  turn  for  litera- 
ture and  for  arms,  he  was  kept  in  a  sort  of  captivity,  which 
prevented  him  from  exerting  himself  with  effect;  and  the 
death  of  his  brother,  while 'it  freed  him  from  this  restraint, 
threw  him  into  other  embarrassments.     No.  sooner  was  h* 

>  Qea.  Diet.— Dupin.— Moreri.— Sttii  OnoBMurtwea. 

Vol.  IV.  C  c 


386  BELLA  Y. 

out  of  the  care  of  a  guardian  himself,  than  he  was  charged 
with  the  tuition  of  one  of  his  nephews,  and  the  misfortunes- 
of  his  family,  which  had  brought:  it  to  the  brink  of  ruin/ 
and  certain  law-suits  in  which  he  was  forced  to  engage, 
occasioned  solicitudes  and  vexations  but  little  suited  to  the 
studies  he  wished  to  pursue,  while  a  sickness  no  less  dan- 
gerous than  painful  confined  him  two  years  to  his  bed.   Ne- 
vertheless he  courted  the  muses ;  he  studied  the  works  of 
the  poets,  Latin,  Greek,  and  French;  and  the  fire  of  their 
genius  enkindled  his  own.     He  produced  several  piece* 
that  procured  him  access  to  the  court,  where  Francis  I. 
Henry  II.  and  Margaret  of  Navarre,  admired  the  sweetness, 
the  ease,  and  the  fertility  of  his  vein.     He  was  unanimous- 
ly called  the  Ovid  of  France.     The  cardinal  John  do  Bel- 
lay,  his  near  relation,  being. retired  to  Rome,  in  1547,  after, 
the  death  of  Francis  I.  our  poet  followed  him  thither  with- 
in two  years  afterwards,  where  he  enjoyed  both  the  charms 
of  society  and  those  of  study.     The  cardinal  was  a  man  of 
letters,  and  the  hours  they  passed  together  were  real  par- 
ties of  pleasure.     His  stay  in  Italy  lasted  but  three  years, 
as  his  illustrioor  kinsman  wanted  him  in.  France,  where  he 
gave  him  the  snathagemeqt  of  his  affairs;  but  his  zeal,  his 
fidelity,  and  attachment  to  his  interests,  were  but  poorly 
repaid;  some  secret  enemies  having  misrepresented  him  to 
his  patron.     His  most  innocent  actions  were  turned  to  bis 
reproach;  sinister  meanings  were  given  to  his  verses ;  and 
at  length  he  was  accused  of  irreligion ;  and  these  mortifi- 
cations brought  on  him  again  his  old  complaints.    Eustache 
du  Bellay,  bishop  of  Paris,  moved  at  his  misfortunes,  and 
sensible  of  his  merit,  procured  him,  in  1555,  a  canonry  of 
his  church,  which,  however,  he  enjoyed  not  long;  a  stroke 
pf  apoplexy  carried  him  off  in  the  night  of  the  1st  of  Jan. 
1560,  at  the  age  of  thirty -seven.     Several  epitaphs  were 
made  on  him,  in  which  he  is  styled  ".  Pater  elegaritiarum, 
Pater  omnium  lep6runu"     His  French  poems,  printed  at 
Paris  in  1561,  4to,  and.  1597,  12mo,  established  his  repu- 
tation, and  are  certainly  very  ingenious ;  but  the  author  was 
as  certainly  neglectful  of  decorum  and  the  proprieties  of 
his  station,  and  imitated. the  ancients,  not  so  much  in  what 
deserves  imitation,  as.  in  the  liberties  they,  sometimes  take. 
His  Lathi  poems  published  at  Paris,.  1569,  in  two  parte, 
4to,  though  far  inferior  to  his  French  verses*  are. not  desti- 
tute of  merit.  * 

1  Diet.  Hilt— Umru 


BEL  LA  Y.  387 

%  BELLAY  (John  du),  cardinal,  was  born  in  1492,  and 
made  early  proficiency  in  learning.     Francis  I.  who  highly 
esteemed  him,  bestowed  many  preferments  on  him.,    He 
owed  this  favour  to  an  accidental  circumstance  :  The  night 
before  the  pope  made  his  public  entrance  into  Marseilles, 
to  meet  the  French  king,  it  was  discovered  that  the  presi- 
dent of  the  parliament,  who  had  been  appointed  to  receive 
him  with  a  Latin  oration,  had  unluckily  chosen  a  subject 
which  would  certainly  give  the  pontiff  offence ;  and  yet 
there  was  no  time  for  a  new  composition.     In  this  extre- 
mity, when  the  whole  business  of  the  ceremonial  was  de- 
ranged,  Bellay  offered  his  services  to  speak  extempore, 
and  did  it  with  such  uncommon  propriety  and  elegance, 
that  he  was  marked,  from  that  time,  as  a  man  of  the  first 
genius  in  France.     He  was  first  bishop  of  Bayonne,  and 
afterwards  of  Paris  in  1532.     The  year  following,  Henry 
VIII.  of  England  having  raised  just  apprehensions  of  a 
schism  on  account  of  a  quarrel  with  his  queen,  du  Bellay, 
who  had  been  sent  to  him  in  1527,  in  quality  of  ambassa- 
dor, and  who  is  said  to  have  managed  his  boisterous  tem- 
per with  great  address,  was  dispatched   to  him  a  second 
time.     He  obtained  of  that  prince  that  he  would  not  yet 
break  with  Rome,  provided  time  was  granted  him  to  make 
bis  defence,  by  proxy.     Du  Bellay  set  out  immediately,  to 
ask  a  respite  of  pope  Clement  VII.  which  he  obtained,  and 
sent  a  courier  to  the  king  of  England  for  his  procuration, 
but  the  courier  not  returning,  Clement  VII.  fulminated  the 
bull  of  excommunication  against  Henry  VIII.  and,  laid  an 
interdict  on  his  dominions.     It  was  this  bull  that  furnished 
Henry  with  an  opportunity,  fortunately  for  England,  of 
withdrawing  that  nation  from  the  church  of  Rome,  and  a 
great  source  of  revenue  from  the  coffers  of  the  pope.     Du 
Bellay  continued  to  be  entrusted  with  the  affairs  of  France 
under  the  pontificate  of  Paul  III.  who  made  him  cardinal  in 
J  535.     The  year  afterwards,  Charles tV.  having  entered 
Provence  with  a  numerous  army,  Francis  I.  in  order  to  op* 
pose  so  formidable  an  enemy,  quitted  Paris,  whither  du 
Bellay  was  just  returned,  and  the  king  appointed  him  his 
Jieutenant-general,  that  he,  might  have  a  watchful  eye  over 
Picardy  and  Champagne.     The  cardinal,  no  less  intelligent 
in  matters  of  war  than  in  the  intrigues  of  the  cabinet,  un- 
dertook to  defend  Paris,  which  was  then  in  confusion,  and 
fortified  it  accordingly  with   a  rampart   and  boulevards, 
which  are  still  to  be  seen.    He  provided  with  equal  prompti- 

C  C  2 


S88  BELLAY. 

tude  for  the  security  of  the  other  towns,  which  important 
services  procured  him  new  benefices,  and  the  friendship 
and  confidence  of  Francis  I.  After  the  death  of  that 
prince,  the  cardinal  de  Lorraine  became  the  channel  of 
favour  at  the  court  of  Henry  II.,  but  du  Bellay,  too  little  of 
a  philosopher,  and  too  much  affected  by  the  loss  of  his  in- 
fluence, could  no  longer  endure  to  remain  at  Paris.  He 
chose  rather  to  retire  to  Rome,  where  the  quality  of  bishop 
pf  Ostia  procured  him,  under  Paul  IV.  the  title  of  dean  of 
the  sacred  college,  and  where  his  riches  enabled  him  to 
build  a  sumptuous  palace ;  but  by  some  means  he  took  cbte 
to  keep  the  bishopric  of  Paris  in  his  family,  obtaining  that 
see  for  Eustache  du  Bellay,  his  cousin,  who  was  already 
provided  with  several  benefices,  and  president  of  the  par- 
liament The  cardinal  lived  nine  years  after  his  demission ; 
and,  whether  from  patriotism  or  from  the  habit  of  business, 
he  continued  to  make  himself  necessary  to  the  king.  He 
died  at  Rome,  Feb.  16,  1560,  at  the  age  of  68,  with  the 
reputation  of  a  dexterous  courtier,  an  able  negociator,  and 
a  great  wit  Literature  owed  much  to  him.  He  concurred 
with  his  friend  Budaeus  in  engaging  Francis  I.  to  institute 
the  college  royal.  Rabelais  had  been  his  physician.  Of 
his  writing  are  Several  harangues,  An  apology  for  Francis  I. 
Elegies,  epigrams,  and  odes,  collected  in  8vo,  and  printed 
by  Robert  Stephens  in  1546.  * 

BELLAY  (Martin  du),  brother  of  the  foregoing,  was, 
like  him  and  his  other  brother  William,  a  great  general, 
an  able  negociator,  and  a  patron  of  letters,  and  was  also 
employed  by  Francis  I.  His  historical  memoirs,  from  1513 
to  1543,  are  still  remaining;  and  are  to  be  found  with 
those  of  his  brother  William.  Whatever  pleasure  the  cu- 
rious find  in  perusing  these  memoirs,  the  generality  of 
readers  complain  of  the  length  of  his  descriptions  of  the 
battles  and  sieges  in  which  he  was  present;  but  he  cannot 
be  denied  the  praise  of  a  wise  and  able  man.  He  died  at 
Perche  in  1559.  He  was  prince  of  Yvetot,  by  his  mar- 
riage with  Elizabeth  Ch&iu,  proprietor  of  that  principality.* 
BELLAY  (William  du),  another  brother  of  the  pre- 
ceding, lord  of  Langey,  a  French  general,  who  signalized 
himself  in  the  service  of  Francis  I.  was  also  an  able  nego- 
ciator, so  that  the  emperor  Charles  V.  used  to  say,  "  that 

*  Gen.  Diet. — Moreri.— Gilpin's  Life  of  Cranmer,  p.  32. 
«  ■  €en.  Diet.— Moreri. 


BELLAY.  S«9 

Langey's  pen  had  fought  more  against  him  than  all  the 
lances  of  France."  He  was  sent  to  Piedmont  in  quality  of 
viceroy,  where  he  took  several  towns  from  the  Imperialists* 
His  address  in  penetrating  into  an  enemy's  designs  was  one< 
of  those  talents  in  the  exercise  of  which  he  spared  no  ex- 
pence>  and  thereby  had  intelligence  of  the  most  secret 
councils  of  the  emperor  and  his  generals.  He  was  ex- 
tremely active  in  influencing  some  of  the  universities  of 
France,  toNgive  their  judgment  agreeably  to  the  desires  of 
Henry  VIII.  king  of  England,  when  this  prince  wanted  to 
divorce  his  queen,  in  order  to  marry  Anne  Boleyn.  It 
was  then  the  interest  of  France  to  favour  the  king  of  Eng- 
x  land  in  this  particular,  it  being  an  affront  to  the  emperor, 
and  a  gratification  to  Henry,  which  might  serve  for  the 
basis  of  an  alliance  between  him  and  Francis  I.  He  was 
sent  several  tifaies  into  Germany  to  the  princes  of  the  pro- 
testant  league,  and  was  made  a  knight  of  the  order  of 
St.  Michael. 

He  was  also  a  man  of  learning,  and  gave  proofs  of  bis' 
abilities  and  genius  as  a  writer.  The  most  remarkable  of 
his  works  was  the  "  History  of  his  own  times,1'  in  Latin : 
of  this,  however,  nothing  remains  except  a  few  fragments, 
*nd  three  or  four  books,  which  Martin  du  Bellay,  Wil- 
liam's brother,  has  inserted  in  his  memoirs. 

When  Langey  was  in  Piedmont  in  1542,  he  had  some 
remarkable  intelligence,  which  he  was  desirous  himself  to 
communicate  to  the  king ;  and,  being  extremely  infirm,  he 
ordered  a  litter  for  his  conveyance ;  but,  after  having 
passed  the  mountain  of  Tarara,  betwixt  Lyons  and  Roan, 
he  found  himself  so  much  indisposed  at  St.  Saphoriq,  that 
he  was  obliged  to  stop:  and  there  he  died  Jan.  9,  1543. 
He  was  buried  in  the  church  of  Mans,  and  a  noble  monu- 
ment was  erected  to  his  memory.  His  friends  gave  him 
the  following  epitaph : 

Cy  git  Langey,  qui  de  plume  et  d'epe* 
A  surmont6  Cicevon  et  Pompee. 

His  cousin  Joachim  Bellay  made  also  the  two  following 
lines  in  bis  praise  : 

Hie  situs  est  Langeius,  nil  ultra  quaere,  viator  \ 
nil  melius  dici,  nil  potuit  brevius. 

Here  lies  Langey ;  ask  nothing  further,  traveller  \  no- 
thing better  can  be  said,  and  nothing  shorter.  *  * 

1  Gen.  Diet— Morcri. 


390  B  E  L  L  E  A  U. 

BELLEAU  (Remi),  a  French  poet,  born  in»l528,  at  No^ 
gent  le  Rotrou,  lived  in  the  family  of  Renatus  of  Lorraine, 
marquis  of  Elbeuf,  general  of  the  French  gallies,  and  at- 
tended him  in  his  expedition  to  Italy  in  1557.  This  prince 
highly  esteemed  Belleau  for  his  courage  ;  and  having  also 
a  high  opinion  of  his  genius  and  abilities,  entrusted  him 
with  the  education  of  his  son  Charles  of  Lorraine.  Belleau 
was  one  of  the  seven  poets  of  his  time, .  who  were  denor 
minated  the  French  Pleiades.  He  wrote  several  pieces, 
and  translated  the  odes  of  Anacreon  into  the  French  lan- 
guage ;  but  in  this  he  is  thought  not  to  have  preserved  all 
the  natural  beauties  of  the  original.  His  pastoral  pieces 
are  in  greatest  esteem,  and  were  so  successful,  that  Ron* 
sard  styled  him  the  painter  of  nature.  He  wrote  also  art 
excellent  poem  on  the  nature  and  difference  of  precious 
stones,  which  by  some  has  been  reputed  his  best  per- 
formance; and  hence  it  was  said  of  him,  that  he  ha4 
erected  for  himself  a  monument  of  precious  stones.  Bel-« 
leau  died  at  Paris,  March  6,  1577-  His  poems  were  col- 
lected and  published  at  Rouen,  1604,  2  vols.  12mo,  with 
the  exception,  we  believe,  of  a  macaronic  poem  he  wrote 
and  published  (without  date)  entitled  "Dktamen  metri- 
ficum  de  bello  Huguenotico." l 

BELLEFOREST  (Francis  de),  .  a  French  historical 
compiler,  was  born  in  1530,  at  Sarzan,  near  Samatan,  a 
little  village  of  Comminges  in  Guienne.  He  was  only  seven 
years  of  age  when  he  lost  his  father ;  but  bis  mother,  al- 
though left  in  poor  circumstances,  contributed  all  in  her 
power  to  his  education,  and  he  had  the  good  fortune  tq 
be  supported  some  years  by  the  queen  of  Navarre,  sister 
to  Francis  I.  Some  time  after  he  went  to  study  at  Bour- 
deoux,  and  thence  removed  to  Toulouse,  where,  instead  of 
applying  to  the  study  of  the  law  as  he  intended,  he  amused 
himself  with  poetry.  He  went  next  to  Paris,  where  he 
got  acquainted  with  several  men  of  learning,  and  was  ho- 
noured With  the  friendship  of  many  persons  of  quality. 
Here  he  became  an  author  by  profession,  and  published 
above  fifty  compilations,  mostly  historical,  among  which 
are,  his  History  of  the  nine  Charles's  of  France;  Annota- 
tions on  the  books  of  St.  Augustin ;  his  Universal  History 
of  the  World;  the  Chronicles  of  Nicholas  Gillet,  aug- 
mented ;  A  Universal  Cosmography ;  and  the  Annals,  of 

»  MorerL— Diet.  Hi3t. — Gen.  Diet. 


BELLEFOBEST.  391 

General  History  of  France,  all  written  with  little  judgment 
or  accuracy/  but  deemed  useful  at  a  time  when  these 
qualities  were  not  in  much  request.  He  died  at  Paris  in 
I5&3.1 

BELLEGARDE  (Jran  Baptiste  M  orvan  t>e),  born  itt 
1648  at  Pihyriac  in  the  diocese  of  Nantes,  became  a  Je+ 
suit,  and  continued  of  that  society  for  sixteen  or  seven  teen 
years.  It  is  pretended  that  his.  attachment  to  Cartesianism, 
at  a  time  when  it  vttes  no  longer  in  .fashkm,  obliged  him  tb 
quit  it,  and  he  applied  vigorously  to  his'  pen  for  a-  subsist- 
ence, sharing  what  he  gdt  very  liberally  with  the  poor.  He 
died  in  the  community  of  the  priests  of  StJTraneis  de  Sales* 
the  26th  of  April  1734,  at  the  age  of  86.-  He  wrote  French 
translations  of  several  works  of  the  fathers,  of  St.  John 
Chrysostome,  of  St.  Basil,  of  St*  Gregory  Nazranzen,  of 
St.  Ambrose^  &c.  of  the  works  of  Thomas  it  Kempis  ;  of 
the  Apparatus  Biblicus,  in  Svo,  which  for  the  most  part 
are  very  unfaithful ;  nor  are  his  versions  of  the  classics,  of 
Ovid's  epistles,  and  others,  in  greater  estimation.  Thdre 
is  also  by  him  a  version  of  Las  Gasas,  on  the  destruction 
of  the  Indies,  1697,  and  several  moral  productions :  1;  Re* 
flections  on  what  may  please  and  displease  in  the  world. 
2.  Reflections  on  ridicule.  3.  Models  of  conversation,  and 
other  moral  writings,  forming  together  14  small  volumes, 
all  which  bear  strong  marks  of  the  precipitation  in  which 
the  author  composed  them.  The  ahb£  de  Bellegarde  had 
an  easy  and  sometimes  an  elegant  style ;  but  his  reflections 
are  little  more  than  trivial  moralities,  without  depth  or 
ingenuity.  A  very  indifferent  translation  of  his  "  Model* 
of  conversation"  was  published  at  London  in  1765,  Svo, 
enough  to  shew  the  absurdity  of  many  of  his  sentiments, 
and  the  improbabilities  of  his  historical  facts.8 
.  BELLENDEN,  or  BALLENDEN  (Sir  or  Dr.  John), 
an  elegant  Scottish  writer  of  the  sixteenth  century,  was 
descended  from  an  ancient  and  very  honourable  family  in 
that  kingdom,  where  his  father,  Mr.  Thomas  Bellenden  of 
Auchinoul,  was  director  to  the  chancery  in  1 54Q,  and  clerk 
of  accounts  in  1541.  It  does  not  appear  when  our  author 
was  born,  or  where  educated ;  but  from  his  writings  (fre- 
quently intermixed  with  words  of  Gallic  derivation)  it  was 
probably  in  France.     In  his  youth  he  served  'in  the  court, 

.    >  Moreri.— Diet  Hist.— Gen  Diet— Saxii  Ooomasticoi*. 
*  Moreri.— Diet.  Hisu 


39*  BELLENDEN, 

and  was  in  great  favour  with  king  James  V.  as  himself  in* 
forms  us,  which  he  might  very  probably  owe  to  his  fine  vein 
in  poetry,  that  prince  being  a  great  admirer,  and  a  pro- 
ficient in  poetical  studies.  Having  this  interest  with  his 
prince,  he  attained  extraordinary  preferment  in  the  church, 
being  made  canon  of  Ross,  and  archdeacon  of  Murray,  to 
which  last  dignity  perhaps  he  opened  his  passage,  by 
taking  the  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity  at  the  Sorbonne. 
He  likewise  obtained  his  father's  employment  of  clerk  of 
accounts,  which  was  very  considerable,  in  the  minority  of 
the  king  before. mentioned;  but  he  was  afterwards  turned 
out  by  die  struggle  of  factions,  in  the  same  reign.  We  have 
no  direct  authority  to  prove  that  lie  had  any  share  in  the 
education  of  king  James  V.  but  from  some  passages  in  bis 
poems,  and  from  his  addressing,  many  of  them  to  that  king, 
he  appears  to  have  been  in  some  measure  particularly  at- 
tached to  his  person ;  and  from  one  of  them,  we  may  infer 
that  he  had  an  interest  beyond  that  of  bare  duty,  in  form- 
ing a  right  disposition,  and  giving  wholesome  instructions 
to  that  prince. '  But  the  work  which  has  transmitted  his 
name,  to  posterity,  is  hi*  translation  of  Hector  Boethius, 
or,  as  his  countrymen  call  him,  Hector  Boeis's  History, 
from  the  Latin  into  the  Scottish  tongue,  which  he  per- 
formed at  the  command  of  his  royal  master  admirably,  but 
with  a  good  deal  of  freedom,  departing  often  from  his 
author,  although  generally  for  the  sake  of  truth,  and  some- 
times also  adding  circumstances,  which  perhaps  might  not 
be  known  to  Hector  Boece.  This  version,  as  he  called  it, 
was  very  well  received  both  in  Scotland  and' England.  It 
does  not  appear  either  from  his  own  writings  or  otherwise, 
how  he  came  to  lose  his  office  of  clerk  of  accounts ;  but  he 
certainly  recovered  it  in  the  succeeding  reign,  was  like- 
wise made  one  of  the  lords  of  session ;  and  had  credit  then 
at  court,  perhaps  from  his  zeal  in  respect  to  his  religion* 
for  he  was  a  very  warm  and  inflexible  Romanist,  and  la- 
boured assiduously,  in  conjunction  with  Dr.  Laing,  to  im- 
pede the  progress  of  the  reformation.  It  may  with  great 
probability  be  conjectured,  that  the  disputes  into  which  he 
plunged  himself  on  this  subject,  made  him  so  uneasy,  that 
he  chose  to  quit  his  native  country,  that  he  might  reside  in 
a  place,  where  that  disposition,  instead  of  being  an  hin- 
drance, would  infallibly  recommend  him.  This  (as  it  is 
supposed)  carried  him  to  Rome,  where,  as  Dempster  tells 
us,  he  died  in  1550.     He  was  unquestionably  a  man  of 


BELLE  N  D  E  N.  »3 

gteat  parts,  arid  one  of  the  finest  poets  his  country  had  to 
boast,  and  notwithstanding  the  obsolete  language  of  his 
works,  they  are  not  slightly  imbued  with  that  enthusiasm 
which  is  the  very  soul  of  poesy.  His  great  work  appeared 
in  folio  at  Edinburgh,  in  1536,  entitled  "The  History  and 
Chronicles  of  Scotland,  compilit  and  newly  correctit  and 
amendtt  be  the  reverend  and  noble  clerk  Mr.  Hector  Boea, 
chanon  of  Aberdene,  translated  lately  be  Mr.  John  Bellen- 
den,  archdene  of  Murray,  and  chanon  of  Rosse,  at  com* 
msmd  of  James  the  Fyfte,  king  of  Scottis,  impriotet  in 
Edinburgh  be  Thomas  EFavidson,  dwelling  fornens  the 
Fryere-Wynde."  This  translation,  as  has  been  observed, 
was  very  far  from  being  close,  our  author  taking  to  him- 
self the  liberty  of  augmenting  and  amending  the  history  he 
published  as  he  thought  proper.  He,  likewise,  distinguished 
it  into  chapters  as  well  as  books,  which  was  the  only  distinc- 
tion employed  by  Boetbius ;  which  plainly  proves,  that  it 
was  this  translation,  and  not  the  original,  that  Richard 
Grafton  made  use  of  in  penning  his  chronicle,  which  Bu- 
chanan could  scarcely  avoid  knowing,  though  he  never 
misses  any  opportunity  of  accusing  Grafton,  as  if  he  had 
corrupted  and  falsified  this  author,  in  order  to  serve  his 
own  purposes  and  abuse  the  people  of  Scotland;  which, 
however,  is  a  groundless  charge.  Our  author's  work  was 
afterwards  taken  into  the  largest  of  our  British  histories,  of 
which  the  bishop  of  Carlisle  has  given  us  the  following  ac- 
count: "  R.  Holinshed  published  it  in  English,  but  was 
not  the  translator  of  it  himself:  his  friend  began  the  work 
and  had  gone  a  good  way  in  it,  but  did  not,  it  seems,  live 
to  finish  it  In  this  there  are  several  large  interpolations 
and  additions  out  of  Major,  Lesley,  and  Buchanan,  by 
Fr.  Thinne,  who  is  also  the  chief  author  of  the  whole  story 
after  the  death  of  king  James  the  First,  and  the  only  pen- 
man of  it  from  1571  to  1586.  Towards  the  lattef  end, 
this  learned  antiquary  occasionally  intermixes  catalogues 
of  the  chancellors,  archbishops,  and  writers  of  that  king- 
dom." a 

BELLENDEN  (William),  more  generally  known  by  his 
Latin  name  of  Gulielmus  Belendenus,  a  native  of  Scot- 
land, was  born  in  the  sixteenth  century*  We  find  him 
mentioned  by  Dempster  as  humanity  professor  at  Paris,  in 

*  Biog.  BriU~*-Jrvine's  lives  of  the  Scottish  Poets,  where  there  is  a  more  ae- 
'ctirate  inquiry  into  Bel  lend  en's  family,  and  some  extracts  from  his  poems.— 
Warton1!  Hist,  of  Poetry,  vol.  II.  p.  321. 


394  BELLENDEN. 

16d2.     He  is  reported  by  the  Scots  to  have  possessed  ai\ 
eminent  degree  of  favour  with  James  VI.  to  whom  he  was 
master  of  requests,  and  "Magister  Supplicum  Libellcrum," 
or  reader  of  private  petitions,  which,  it  is  conceived,  must 
have  been  only  a  nominal  office,  as  his  more  constant  resi- 
dence was  in  France.     By  the  munificence  of  that  mo- 
narch, Bellenden  was  enabled  to  enjoy  at  Paris  all  the  con- 
veniences of  retirement.    While  he  continued  thus  free 
from  other  cares,  he  suffered  not  his  abilities  to  languish ; 
but  employed  his  time  in  the  cultivation  of  useful  litera- 
ture.    His  first  work,  entitled  "  Ciceronis  princeps,*'  wai 
printed  at  Paris  in  1608,  a  work  in  which  he  extracted 
from  Cicero's  writings,  detached  passages,  and  comprised 
them  into  one  regular  body,  containing  the  rules  of  mo- 
narchical gpvernment,  and  the  duties  of  the  prince.     To 
this  first  edition  was  prefixed  "  Tractatus  de  processu  et 
scriptoribiis  rei  political."     "  Ciceronis  Consul"  was  the 
next  publication  of  Bellenden.     It  appeared  also  at  Paris 
in  1612,  and  both  were   inscribed  to  Henry  prince  of 
Wales.     In  1616  was  published  a  second  edition,  to  which 
was  added  "  Liber  de  statu  prisci  orbis,"  with  a  dedica- 
tion  to  prince  Charles,  the  surviving  brother  of  Henry, 
While  Bellenden  was  occupied  in  the  composition  of  these 
three  treatises,  he  was  so  much  attracted  by  the  admira- 
tion of  Cicero,  that  he  projected  a  larger,  work,  "  De  Tri- 
bus  Luminibus  Romanorum,"  and  what  he  had  already 
written  concerning  Cicero  he  disposed  in  a  new  order. 
Death,  however,  interrupted  his  pursuit,  before  he  could 
collect  and  arrange  the  materials  which  related  to  Seneca 
and  Pliny,  but  of  the  time  of  his  death  we  have  no  account 
The  treatises  of  Bellenden  which  remain,  have  been  es- 
teemed as  highly  valuable,  and  worthy  the  attention  of  the 
learned.    They  were  extremely  scarce,  but  had  been  much 
admired  by  all  who  could  gain  access  to  them.     At  length 
they  were  rescued  from  their  obscure  confinement  in  the 
cabinets  of  the  curious,  by  a  new  edition  which  appeared 
at  London  in  1787,  in  a  form  of  typography  and  an  accu- 
racy of  printing  which  so  excellent  an  author  m?ly  justly 
be  said  to  merit.     It  was  accompanied  with  an  eloquent 
Latin  preface  in  honour  of  three  modern  statesmen.     Dr. 
Samuel  Parr,  the  author  of  the  preface,  and  to  whom  litera- 
ture is  indebted  for  the  restoration  of  such  a  treasure,  has 
charged  Middleton  with  having  meanly  withheld  his  ac- 
knowledgments, after  having  embellished  the  life  of  Cicero 


B  E  L  L  E  N  D  E  N.  395 

by  extracting  many  useful  and  valuable  materials  from  the 
works  of  Bellendcn.  This,  if  we  mistake  not,  had  been 
before  pointed  out  by  Dr.  Warton  in  the  second  volume  of 
his  "  Essay  on  Pope."1 

BELLENGER  (Francis),  dqctor  of  the  Sorbonne,  w*s 
born  in  the  diocese  of  Lisieux,  and  died  at  Paris  the  12th 
of  April  1749,  aged  sixty-one.  He  was  master  of  the  Greek 
and  Latin,  and  of  several  of  the  living  languages.  He 
published,  1.  A  French  translation  of  Dionysius  H?licar- 
nensis,  1723,  2  vols.  4to.  2.  A  translation  of  the  continua- 
tion of  Plutarch's  Lives  by  Rowe,  and  of  Derham's  Astro- 
theology.  3.  An  edition  of  the  "  Vulgate  Psalms,**  with 
an  excellent  preface  and  notes,' 1723,  4to,  concealing  hi& 
name  under  the  letters  V.  E.  S.  P.  D.  F.  B.  P.  I.  V.  4.  A 
critical  essay  on  the  works  of  Rollin,  on  the  translators  of 
Herodotus,  and  the  dictionary  of  la  Martintere,  in  8vo.  with 
a  continuation.  This  work,  though  heavily  written^  is 
esteemed.  The  result  of  the  first  part  is,  that  Rollin  had 
but  a  slight  knowledge  of  Greek,  and  that  he  often  ap- 
propriated the  sentiments  and  observations  of  French  au- 
thors, without  citing  them.  Rollin  answered  him  in  the  pre- 
face to  the  fourth  vol.  of  his  Roman  History.  The  two 
other  parts  are  neither  less  just  nor  less  learned.  He  left 
in  MS.  a  French  version  of  Herodotus,  with  notes  replete 
with  erudition.  His  translations  are  faithful ;  but  he  had 
neither  the  ease  nor  the  elegance  of  style  of  Rollin,  al- 
though he  surpassed  him  in  the  knowleflge  of  Greek.* 

BELLET  (Charles),  member  of  the  academy  of  Mont- 
auban,  and  who  held  a  benefice  in  the  cathedral  thefe, 
was  born  at  Querci,  and  died  at  Paris  in  1771.  Several 
prizes  gained  at  Marseilles,  at  Bourdeaux,  at  Pau,  at 
Rouen,  his  literary  and  ecclesiastical  learning,  and  the 
purity  of  his  manners,  caused  him  to  be  respected  at  Mont- 
auban.  By  him  are,  1.  "  L' Adoration  Chrgtienne,  dans  la 
devotion  du  rosaire,"  1754>  12mo.  2.  Several  pieces  of 
eloquence.  3.  "  Les  droits  de  la  religion  sur  le  coeur  do 
Fhomme,"  1764,  2  vols.  12mo.8 

BELLIN  (Nicholas),  geographical  engineer  of  the  ma- 
rine, and  member  of  the  royal  society  of  London,  was  born 
at  Paris  in  i703,  and  died  the  21st  of  March  1772.  He 
had  a  singular  knowledge  in  his  art,  which  he  employed 

1  Pan's  Introduction*— Remarks  on  the  n§w  edition  of  BelUntkous,  1787,  8 yo. 
*  Diet.  Hiit.  '  s  Ibid. 


-  ~ 


39& 


B  E  L  L  I  N. 


with.great  industry.  He  published,  under  the  title  of  "  Hy«. 
drographie .  Frao$oise,"  a  series  of  marine  charts,  to  the 
number  of  fourscore.  2.  "  Essais  g6ographiques  sur  lea 
isles  Britanniques,"  1763,  in  4to.  3.  "  Essais  sur  le  Guy- 
ane^"  1757,  4to.  4, "  Le  petit  Atlas  Maritime,".  4  vols. 
4to.  5.  "  Le  Neptune  Fran9ais,'*  1753,  fol.  and  some 
other  works  very  imperfectly  catalogued  in  our  authority.  * 
BELLINI  (Gentile),  an  eminent  artist,  was  the  son  of 
Giacopo  Bellini,  also  an  artist,  and  born  at  Venice,  1421. 
He  was  instructed  by  his  father  in  the  art  of  painting  in 
distemper  as  well  as  in  oil.  He  was  accounted  the  most 
knowing  of  any  artist  in-  his  time,  and  was  employed  by 
the  doge  to  paint  tbe  hall  of  the  great  Council ;  and  for 
others  of  tbe  nobility  he  executed  several  noble  works.  His 
reputation  was  at  that  time  so  extensive,  that  it  reached 
the. Ottoman  court4!;  and  the  emperor  Mahomet  II. having 
seen  some  of  his  performances,  invited  him  to  Constanti- 
nople, received  him  with  great  respect,  sat  to  him  for  his 
portrait,  and  engaged  him  there  for  some  time,  giving  him 
many  rich  presents,  and  many  marks  of  his  regard.  But 
the  emperor  having  ordered  tbe  head  of  a  slave  to  be  cut 
off  before  the  face  of  Gentile,  to  convince  him  of  an  in- 
correctness in  a  picture  of  the  decollation  of  St.  John,  he 
was  so  affected,  and  so  terrified  at  the  sight,  that  he  never 
enjoyed  peace  of  mind  till  he  obtained  leave  to  return  to 
his  own  country.  Mahomet,  to  do  him  honour,  put  a  gold 
chain  about  his  n£ck,  and  wrote  to  the  senate  of  Venice 
in  his  favour,  which  at  his  return  procured  him  a  pension 
for  life,  and  the  honourable  distinction  of  the  order  of  St. 
Mark.  Vasari  mentions  a  Sea-fight,  painted  by  this  master, 
which  had  extraordinary  merit,  in  the  variety  of  the  fi- 
gures, the  truth  of  the  expressions,  the  great  propriety  of 
the*  attitudes,  the  perspective  distances  of  the  vessels,  and 
the  grandeur  of  the  composition.     He  died  1501.* 


•  De  Piles  and  other  writers  repre- 
sent the  transaction  of  Gentile  at  Con- 
stantinople, agreeable  to  what  is  re- 
lated above ;  but  Vasari  says  that  Ma- 
homet II.  had  seen  some  of -the  works 
of  Giovanni  Bellini,  which  he  admired 
exceedingly,  and  desired  that  the  paint- 
er of  those  pictures  might  be  sent  to 
him  from  Venice  ;  but  that  the  senate 
prevailed  on  Gentile  to  go  instead  of 

*  Diet,  flist.' 


Giovanni,  as  he  was  then  engaged  in  a 
large  work,  and  the  doge  was  unwil- 
ling to  deprive  bis  country  of  so  fat 
mous  an  artist;  Giovanni  being  esteem- 
ed the  best  painter,  not  only  of  his  own 
family,  who  were  all  painters,  but  the 
ablest  artist  of  his  time.  The  circum- 
stance of  beheading  the  slave  is  net 
mentioned  by  Vasari. 

*  Pilkipgton.— Vasari. 


BI  LUNL        •        -  497 

•  BELLINI  (Giovanni,  or  John),  brother  to  the  pre- 
ceding, was  born  at  Venice  in  1422,  but  surpassed  both 
his  father  and  brother  in  every  branch  of  the  art;  and  is 
accounted  the  founder  of  the  Venetian  school,  by  intro- 
ducing the  practice  of  painting  in  oil,  and  teaching  his 
disciples  to  paint  after  nature.  His  manner  of  designing 
was  but  indifferent,  and  frequently  in  a  bad  taste ;  and 
before  he  knew  how  to  manage  oil-colours,  his  painting 
appeared  dry  ;  but  afterwards  he  acquired  more  softness  in 
his  penciling,  shewed  a  much  greater  propriety  of  colours, 
and  had  somewhat  of  harmony,  though  still  he  retained  too 
much  of  what  appeared  dry  and  hard ;  but  the  airs  of  his 
heads  were  in  a  better  taste  than  those  of  either  Giacopo 
or  Gentile.  The  school  of  Giovanni  Bellini,  produced  two 
memorable  disciples,  Titian  and  Giorgione,  who  brought 
the  art  of  colouring  to  its  highest  perfection ;  and  by  ob- 
serving the  works  of  those  famous  artists,  Bellini  improved 
his  own  manner  very  considerably,  so  that  in  his  latter 
pictures  the  colouring  is  much  better,  and  the  airs  of  his 
heads  are  noble,  although  his  design  is  a  little  gothic,  and 
his  attitudes  not  well  chosen.     He  died  in  1512. l  / 

BELLINI  (Laurencr),  an  eminent  Italian  physician,  was 
born  at  Florence,  1643.  After  having  finished  his  studies 
in  polite  literature,  he' went  to  Pisa,  where  he  was  assisted 
by  the  generosity  of  the  grand  duke  Ferdinand  II.  and 
studied  under  two  of  the  most  learned  men  of  that  age, 
Oliva  and  Borelli.  Oliva  instructed  him  in  natural  philo- 
sophy, and  Borelli  taught  him  mathematics.  At  twenty 
years  of  age,  he  was  chosen  professor  of  philosophy  at  Pisa, 
but  did  not  continue  long  in  this  office ;  for  he  had  ac- 
quired' such  a  reputation  for  his  skill  in  anatomy,  that  the 
grand  duke  procured  him  a  professorship  in  that  science. 
This  prince  was  often  present  at  his  lectures,  and  was. 
highly  satisfied  with  his  abilities  and  performances.  Bel- 
lini, after  having  held«his  professorship  almost  thirty  years, 
accepted  of  an  invitation  to  Florence,  .when  he  was  about 
fifty  years  of  age,  and  was  advanced  to  be  first  physician 
to  the  grand  duke  Cosmo  III.  but  his  practice  is  said  to 
have  been  unsuccessful.  He  died  January  8,  1703,  being 
sixty  years  of  age.  His*  works  were  read  and.  explained 
publicly,  during  his  life,  by  our  countryman  Dr.  Pitcairn, 

1  PilkiDgtoiL— Yawii 


89*  BELLINf. 

professorof  physic  in  Leyden.  Theprincipatofhis  woflcsare, 
1.  **  Exercitatio  Anatomica  de  structure  et  usu  renum.^ 
Amst.  1665,  in  12mo.  2.  "  Gustua  Organum  novissime 
cleprehensum ;  prsemissi*  ad  faciiiorem  intelligentiam  qui* 
busdam  de  saporibus,"  Bologna,  1665,  12mo.  3.  "  Gra* 
tiarum  actio,  ad  Ser.  Hetruriae  ducem.  Qucedam  Anato* 
mica  in  epistola  ad  Ser.  Ferdinandum  It.  et  propositio  nie- 
chanica,"  Pisa,  1670,  12mo.  4.  "  De  urinis  et  pulsibus, 
tie  missione  sanguinis,  de  febribus,  de  morbis  capitis  et 
pectoris,"  Bologna,  1683,  4to,  Francfort  and  Leipsic,1685, 
4to.  5.  "  Opuscula  aliquot  de  urinis,  de  motu  cordis,  dfc 
ttiotu  bilis,  de  missione  sanguinis,"  L.  Bat.  1696,  4to.  This 
is  dedicated  to  Dr.  Pitcairn.  Haller  criticises  Bellini  with 
some  severity,  but  the  fullest  account  and  defence  of  him 
is  that  by  Fabroni. l 

BELLOCQ,  (Peter),  valet-de-chambre  to  Louis  XIV* 
fend  trainbearer  to  the  queen  Maria  Teresa,  and  afterwards 
to  the  duchess  of  Burgundy,  dauphiness  of  France,  was  a 
French  poet  and  wit  of  considerable  fame.  He  was  born 
at  Paris  in  1645.  The  most  esteemed  of  his  poems  are 
u  Les  Petits-maitres,"  and  "  Les  Nbuvellistes,"  two  sa- 
tires, and  his  poem  on  the  "  Hotel  des  invalides."  Se- 
veral other  of  his  pieces  are  to  be  found  in  the  collections, 
particularly  in  that  published  at  the  Hague  in  17 15,  2  vols. 
He  lived  in  friendship  with  Moliere  and  Racine,  but  incur- 
red the  displeasure  of  Boileau  by  writing  against  his  Satire 
on  Women,  which  Boileau  revenged  by  giving  him  a  place, 
not  of  the  most  honourable  kind,  in  his  tenth  epistle  ;  but 
Bellocq  having  apologised,  Boileau  erased  his  name,  and 
put  in  that  of  Perrin.  Bellocq  died  Oct.  4,  1704.  He  was 
highly  respected  by  his  royal  master,  and  his  wit  and 
agreeable  manners  introduced  him  as  a  welcome  guest  in 
every  polite  company.8 

BELLOI,  or  BELLOY  (Peter),  advocate  general  of 
the  parliament  of  Toulouse,  of  the  sixteenth  century,  was 
born  at  Montauban,  and  descended  from  a  gentleman's 
family  originally  of  Brittany.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one 
he  was  appointed  regent  in  the  university  of  Toulouse, 
and  after  having  pleaded  four  or  five  years  at  the  bar,  he 
was  made  a  counsellor,  or  member  of  the  presidial  court  of 
Toulouse.     Notwithstanding  his  being  a  Roman  catholi% 

1  Fabroni  Vitas  HalOrum,  vol.  IV. — Haller  and  Manget — Gen.  Diet — Me* 
reri.  •  Moreri. 


BELLOL  399 

his  regard  for  his  king  and  country  brought  him  into  dan* 
ger~     His  declaring  against  the  league  made  the  beads  of 
that  party  his  enemies,  and  king  Henry  III.  to  gratify  thfi 
Guises,  ordered  him  to  be  imprisoned.     This  happened  in 
1587.     They  charged  him  with  being  a  heretic,  and  an  in-r 
cendiary,  and  the  year  before  they  had  prevailed  with,  the 
bishop  to  prefer  an  information  against  him,  as  the  author 
of  a  book  which  Thuanus  says  was  written  by  one  Breton, 
who  was  hanged  for  it.     Beiioy's  work  against  the  league, 
entitled  "  Apologie  Catholique  contre  les  libelles,  &c.  pub- 
ises par  les  Liguez,"  was  published  in  1585,  and  after** 
wards  translated  into  Latin.     Belloy  at  length  escaped  from 
prison,  and  reached  St.  Dennis,  where  the  governor  for 
the  king  gave  him  a  friendly  reception,  and  presented  him 
to  his  majesty,  who  being  now  convinced  of  his  loyalty 
and  merit,  made  him  advocate-general  of  the  parliament 
of  Toulouse.     The  time  of  his  death  is  not  recorded,  but 
he  was  living  in  1605,  and  probably  much  later.    His  other 
works  are,  1 .  "  Declaration  du  droit  de  legitime  Succession 
sur  le  royaume  de  .Portugal  apartenant  a  la  reine  mere 
du  roi  tres  Christien,"  a  Anvers  et  a  Paris,  1582,  8vo.     2. 
u  Panegyric  ou  Remonstrance  pour  les  Sen£chal,  Juges 
mage  et  criminel . .  .  de  Tolose,  contre  les  Notaires  et  Se- 
cretaires du  Roi  de  la  dite  Ville,"  Paris,   1582,  4to.     3. 
"  Requeste  verbale  pour  susdits  Seigneurs  et  Officiers  de 
Tolose,  con  tenant  une  Apologie  et  Defence  a  F  Advertisse* 
ment,  publie  au  nom  des  Docteurs  Regents  de  P  University 
de  Tolose,"  Paris,  1583,  8vo.    4.  "  Brieve  Explication  de 
Tan  courant  1583,  selon  de  Calendier  Gregorien,"  Paris, 
1583,  8vo.     5.  "  Supputation  des  temps  depuis  la  Cr£a~ 
tion  du  Monde  jusqu'en  1582,  s6paree  en  deux  colomnes 
diverses,"  Paris,  1584.     6.  "Petri  Beloii  Variorum  Juris 
Civilis  Libri  IV,  et  Disputatio  de  Successione  ab  intesta- 
to,'*  &c.  Paris,  1533.     7.  "  La  Conference  des  Edits  de 
Pacification  et  Explication  des  Edits,9'  Paris,  1600,  8vo. 
8.  "  Exposition  de  Ja.Prophetie  de  PAnge  Gabriel  touch- 
ant. les  septante  semaines  descrites  par  le  Proph£te  Daniel 
au  Chap.  ix.  de  ses  Proprieties,"  Tolose,  1605,  8vo.     9. 
"  De  rOrigine  et  Institution  de  divers  Ordres  de  Cheva- 
lerie,  taut   Eccl6siastiques   que  Profanes,  dedie   a  Mon- 
sjgneur  le  Dauphin  de  Viennois^  Due  de  Bretagne,"  Mon-» 
tauban,   1604,  8 vo,     10.  Arrest  de  la  Cour  de  Parlement 
de  Tolos6  prononc£  en  V  Appellation    comme  d*Abus  re- 
ley€e  par  frere  Jean  Journe,  religieux  de  1'ordre  de  St.. 


400  BELLO  I. 

Dominique,  et  provincial  du  dit  ordre  en  la  Province  de 
Tolose,  sur  la  procedure  contre  lui  ordonn£e  par  les  sietirs 
Evesques  de  Condon  et  d'Aure,  contenant  le  Plaidoyesur 
ce  fait,  par  Mr.  Pierre  de  Beloy,  conseiller  et  avooat  g£- 
n6ral  du  rot  au  dit  Parlement,  Tolose,  1612,  8vo. x 

BELLOI  (Peter  Lawrence  Buyrette  dij),  of  the 
French  academy,-  was  born  at  St.  Flour,  in  Auvergne,  in 
2727,  and  educated  at  Paris  under  one  of  his  uncles,  a 
distinguished  advocate  of  parliament.  After  having  finished 
his  studies  with  applause  at  the  College+Mazarin,  he  took 
lo  the  bar ; .  or  rather,  in  entering  on  this  profession,  be 
followed  his  uncle's  inclinations  in  opposition  to  his  own. 
Captivated  by  an  ardent  passion  for  literature,  and  de* 
spairing  of  ever  being  able  to  move  his  benefactor,  a  man 
severe  and  absolute  in  all  his  determinations,  he  expatri- 
ated himself,  and  went  to  Russia,  to  exercise  the  profes- 
sion of  a  comedian,  that  he  might  be  dispensed  from  exer- 
cising that  of  a  lawyer  at  Paris.  Being  returned  to  thai 
capital  in  1758,  he  brought  upon  the  stage  hi&tragedy  of 
"  Titus,"  imitated  from  the  Clemenza  di  Titcrxrf  Metis- 
tasio.  This  copy  of  a  piece  barely  tolerable,  is  only  a 
very  faint  sketch  of  the  nervous  manner  of  Corneille,  whose 
style  the  author  strove  to  resemble.  Du  Belkn  afterwards 
wrote  "  Zelmire,"  wherein  he  accumulated  the  most 
forced  situations  and  the  most  affecting  strokes  of  the  dra- 
matic art.  It  was  attended  with  success  in  representation, 
but  will  not  bear  examination  in  the  closet.     The  "  Siege 

-  of  Calais,"  a  tragedy  which  he  brought  out  in  1765,  was 
a  shining  epocha  of  his  life.  This  piece,  which  presents 
one  of  the  most  striking  events  in  the  history  of  Ffance, 
procured  the  author  the  recompense  it  deserved.  The 
king  sent  him  a  gold  medal,  weighing  twenty-five  louis 
d'ors,  and  a  considerable  gratification  besides.  The  ma- 
gistrates of  Calais  presented  him  with  the  freedom  of  their 
city  in  a  gold  box;  and  his  portrait  was  placed  in  the 
hdtel-de-ville,  among  those  of  their  benefactors.  These 
testimonies  of  gratitude  were  thought  due  to  a  poet  who 

,  set  his  brethren  the  example  of  choosing  their  subjects 
from  the  national  history ;  and  he  would  have  been  the 
more  deserving  of  them  if  he  had  taken  better  care  of  his; 
versification,  which  is  frequently  incorrect  and  harsh. 
In  style,  likewise,  he  was  very  deficient;   but  this  was 

« 

1  Gen.  Dict»— Morcri. 


BEL  LOi;'  401 

overlooked  in  the  generous  and  noble  sentiment^,  and  the 
pathetic  situations  which  constituted  the  attractions  of  the 
Siige  de  Calais.  Voltaire  wrote  the  most  flattering  letters 
to  the  author,  but  for  some  reason  retracted  his  enco- 
miums after  his  death ;  and  it  was  generally  the  fate  of 
this  tragedy  to  be  too  much  extolled  at  first,  and  too  much  * 

degraded  afterwards.     "  Gaston  and  Bayard/'  in  the  plan  {f 

of  which  are  several  faults  against  probability,  did  not  ex- 
cite so  lively  emotions  as  the  mayor  of  Calais ;  yet  still 
the  public  admired  the  honest  and  steady  character,  and 
the  sublime  virtues,  of  the  "  Chevalier  sans  peur  et  sans 
reproche."  His  two  pieces,  "  Peter  the  cruel,"  and  **Ga- 
brielle  de  Vergi,"  the  former  of  which  was  immediately 
condemned,  and  the  latter  applauded  without  reason,  are 
much  inferior  to  Bayard.  The  author  understood  the  proper 
situations  for  producing  a  grand  effect ;  but  he  wanted  the 
art  to  prepare  tbem,  and  to  bring  them  on  in  a  natural  * 
manner.  He  substituted  extraordinary  theatrical  efforts  for 
the  simple  and  true  pathetic,  and  the  little  tricks  of  oratory 
for  the  eloquence  of  the  heart ;  and  by  this  means  he  con- 
tributed not  a  little  to  degrade  and  debase  the  French  dra- 
ma. The  fall  of  "  Peter  the  cruel"  was  a  fatal  stroke  to 
his  extreme  sensibility,  and  it  is  said  hastened  the  term  of 
his  life.  He  was  attacked  by  a  lingering  distemper,  which 
lasted  for  several  months,  and  exhausted  his  very  moderate 
share  of  bodily  strength.  A  beneficent  monarch  (Louis  XVI.) 
before  whom  the  Si£ge  de  Calais  was  performed  the  first 
time,  being  informed  of  the  lamentable  condition  of  the  au- 
thor, sent  him  a  present  of  fifty  louis  d'ors,  and  the  players, 
from  motives  of  a  laudable  generosity,  gave  a  representa- 
tion of  the  same  tragedy  for  the  benefit  of  the  dying  poet. 
He  expired  shortly  after,  on  the  5th  of  March  1775,  justly 
regretted  by  his  friends,  who  loved  him  for  goodness  of 
disposition  and  warmth  of  friendship.  M.  Gaillard,  of  the 
academie  Franchise,  published  his  works  in  1779,  in  6  vols. 
8vo.  In  this  edition  are  contained  his  theatrical  pieces, 
three  of  which  are  followed,  by  historical  memoirs  of  a  very 
superior  kind,  with  interesting  observations  by  the  editor ; 
divers  fugitive  pieces  in  poetry,  for  the  most  part  produced 
in  Russia,  but  very  unworthy  of  his  pen,  and  the  life  of 
the  author  by  M.  Gaillard. l 

i  Pict  BisL 

Vol.  IV,  Dd 


*©f  B  E  L  L  O  R  [. 

BELLORI  (John  Peter),  a  celebrated  Italian  anti- 
quary, was  born  at  Rome  about  the  year  1616,  and  was 
intended  by  his  father,  for  a  place  in  some  chancery,  and 
with  that  view  be  was  sent  to  his  maternal  uncle  Frapcis 
Angeloni,  secretary  to  the  cardinal  Aldobrandini ;  but  here 
he  imbibed  a  very  different  taste  from  that  of  official  rou- 
tine. Angeloni  had  early  contracted  a  love  for  the  study 
of  antiquities,  and  purchased  the  best  books  he  cpuld  find 
on  the  subject,  and  his  pupil  insensibly  fell  into  the  same 
track  of  curiosity,  and  even  surpassed  his  muster.  Christina, 
queen  of  Sweden,  having  heard  of  his  character,  made  him 
her  librarian,  and  keeper  of  her  museum.  Bellori  died  in 
1696,  aged  near  eighty,  the  greater  part  of  which  long  life 
be  passed  in  the  composition  of  his  various  works.  He  had 
also  acccumulated  a  valuable  collection  of  books,  antiqui- 
ties, &c.  which  afterwards  made  part  of  the  royal  collec- 
tion  at  Berlin.  One  of  his  first  works  was  written  in  defence 
of  his  master  Angeloni,  who,  having,  in  1641,  published 
his  "  Historia  Augusta,  &c."  (see  ANGELONI)  it  was 
attacked  in  France  by  Tristan,  the  sieur  de  St.  Amant,  in 
his  "  Commentaires  Historiques."  Bellori  published,  a 
new  edition  of  Angelohi's  work  in  1685,  much  improved. 
His  own  works  are,  1.  "  Not®  in  numismata,  turn  Ephesia, 
turn  aliarum  urbium,  Apibus  insignita,  cum  eorum  iconi- 
bus  aeneis,"  Rome,  1658,  4to.  2.  "  Fragmenta  vestigii 
veteris  Romae,  ex  lapidibus  Farnesianis,"  ibid,  1673,  foi. 
3.  "  La  Colonna  Trajana,"  &c.  ibid,  oblong  fol.  4.  "  Le 
pitture  antiche  del  sepolcro  de*  Nasoni  nefla  via  Flaminia, 
&c ."  ibid,  1680,  fol.  5.  "  J.  P.  Bellorii  nummus  Antonini 
Pii  de  anni  novi  auspiciis  explicatus,"  ibid,  1676,  8vo. 
6.  "  Gli  antichi  sepolcri,  ovvero  Mausolei  Romani  et  Etrus- 
chi,  &c."  Rome,  1699,  fol.  Leyden,  1728.  It  was  trans* 
lated  also  into  Latin  by  Alex.  Duker,  and  published  at 
Leyden,  1702,  fol  Haym  mentions  an  edition  of  the  ori- 
ginal at  Rome,  1 704.  7.  "  Le  antiche  lucerne  sepolcrali, 
&c."  ibid.  1691,  fol.  8.  "  Veteres  arcus  Augustorum, 
triumphis  insignes,  ex  reliquiis  quae  Romae  adhuc  super- 
sunt,"  Leyden,  1690,  fol.  9.  "  Vite  de  pittori,  scultori 
et  architetti  moderni,"  Leyden,  1672,  4 to.  10.  "  Vet. 
Philosophorum,  Poetarum,  &c.  Imagines,"  Rome,  1685, 
fol.  and  several  of  his  antiquarian  tracts  are  inserted  ia 
Gronovius's  Antiquities. l 

*  Moreti.— Mwuchelli— SatU  Ommm*. 


BELLOSTE.  40* 

BELLOSTE,  or  BELOSTE  (Augustine),  a  French  sur- 
geon, was  born  at  Paris  in  1654,  and  after  studying  me- 
dicine and  surgery,  became  surgeon-major  to  the  French 
army  in  Italy,  and  afterwards  first  surgeon  to  the  duchess 
dowager  of  Savoy.  His  practice  was  extensive  and  suc- 
cessful, and  he  had  also  cultivated  polite  literature  with 
considerable  enthusiasm.  He  is  now,  however,  principally 
•  known  by  a  work,  which  was  long  very  popular,  under  the 
title  of"  Le  Chirurgien  de  P  hospital,"  Paris,  1695,  1705, 
and  translated  into  English  and  most  of  the  continental 
languages.  There  were  five  editions  at  least  of  the  Dutch 
translation.  In  1725  the  author  published  a  second  volume; 
at  Paris,  in  which  he  advances  many  facts  and  experiments 
relative  to  the  effects  of  mercury,  of  which  Bianchi,  pro- 
fessor of  anatomy  at  Turin,  availed  himself  in  his  Latin 
dissertation  on  the  use  of  that  mineral,  and  is  said  to  have 
claimed  discoveries  which  were  really  made  by  Belloste. 
The  latter,  however,  appears  to  have  been  somewhat  of  a 
quack,  as  we  are  told  that  he  bequeathed  to  his  son  the 
secret  of  compounding  those  mercurial  pills,  of  which  he 
speaks  so  often  in  his  "  Hospital  Surgeon."  * 

BELMEIS  or  BEAUMES  (Richard  de)  I.  bishop  of 
London  in  the  reign  of  Henry  I.  was  advanced  to  that  see 
.  through  the  interest  of  Roger  Montgomery,  earl  of  Shrop- 
shire,  and  consecrated  26th  July,  1108.  Immediately  after 
his  consecration,  he  was  appointed,  by  the  king,  warden 
of  the  marches  between  England  and  Wales,  and  lieute- 
nant of  the  county  of  Salop ;  "which  offices  he  held  about 
three  years,  residing  for  the  most  part  of  the  time  at 
Shrewsbury.  This  prelate  expended  the  whole  revenues 
of  his  bishopric  in  the  structure  of  St.  Paul's  cathedral,  foir 
which  purpose  he  purchased  several  adjoining  houses  of  the 
owners,  which  he  pulled  down,  and  converted  the  ground 
they  stood  upon  into  a  church-yard,  and  this  be  surrounded 
with  a  very  high  wall.  Bishop  Godwin  thinks  this  wall  re* 
friained  entire  in  his  time,  though  no  part  of  it  was  to  be 
seen  by  reason  of  the  houses,  with  which  it  was  on  all  sides 
covered.  Despairing,  however,  of  seeing  it  finished,  be 
turned  the  stream  of  his  liberality  another  way ;  and,  ex«- 
changing  the  manor  of  Landsworth  for  a  place  in  the  dio- 
cese of  London  called  St.  Osith  de  Chich,  near  Colchester 
in  Essex,  he  built  there  a  convent  of  regular  canons.   Being 

■'     *  *foreri.~Dict.  Hist. 
DD  2 


404  B  E  L  M  £  I  S. 

seized  with  a,  dead  palsy,  and  thereby  disqualified  for  the 
exercise  of  his  episcopal  functions,  he  intended  to  have 
resigned  his  bishopric,  and  to  have  spent  the  remainder  of 
his  life  in  the  monastery  of  bis  own  foundation  :  but  whilst 
he  delayed  his  purpose  from  day  to  day,  he  died  Jan.  16, 
1 127  :  and  he  was  buried  in  the  convent  of  St.  Osith.  Tan- 
ner informs  us,  that,  in  the  monastery  of  Peterborough 
there  was  formerly  a  treatise,  written  in  verse,  by  bishop 
Belmeis,  and  addressed  to  Henry  I. l 

BELMEIS  or  BEAUMES  (Richard  de)  II.  bishop  of 
London  in  the  reign  of  king  Stephen,  was  nephew  to  the 
preceding,  and  son  of  Walter  de  Belmeis.  Pefore  he 
came  of  age,  he  was  appointed  by  his  uncle  archdeacon  of 
Middlesex :  but  the  bishop  was  prevailed  upon  by  William, 
dean  of  London,  his  nephew  by  his  sister  Adelina,  and  by 
the  prior  of  Chich,  to  commit  the  administration  of  the 
archdeaconry,  during  Richard's  minority,  to  Hugh,  one 
of  his  chaplains.  It  was  with  no  small  difficulty  that 
Richard  afterwards  recovered  his  archdeaconry  out  of  the 
hands  of  this  faithless  guardian.  In  the  beginning  of  Oc- 
tober 1151,  he  was  advanced  to  the  see  of  London,  in  the 
room  of  Robert  de  Sigillo,  and  consecrated  at  Canterbury 
by  archbishop  Theobald,  in  the  presence  of  all  the  bishops 
of  England,  excepting  Henry  of  Winchester,  who  ex- 
cused his  absence,  but  warmly  approved  the  choice  of 
Richard,  in  a  letter  to  the  archbishop.  This  prelate  died 
4th  May,  1 162,  leaving  behind  him  a  reputation  for  singu- 
lar eloquence.  According  to  Dr.  Richardson,  whose  au- 
thority is  a  manuscript  of  the  late  Roger  Gale,  esq.  our 
prelate  was  the  writer  of  the  "  Codex  niger,"  or  Black 
Book  of  the  Exchequer. s 

BELMEYS  (John),  commonly  called  Joannes  Eboracen- 
sis,  or  John  of  York,  an  eminent  divine  in  the  twelfth  century, 
was  born  of  a  good  family.  After  having  laid  the  foundation 
of  learning  in  his  own  country,  he  travelled  abroad,  and  visited 
the  most  famous  universities  of  France  and  Italy,  where  he 
acquired  the  reputation  of  being  the  most  learned  man  of 
his  age.  He  then  returned  home,  and  was  made  a  canon, 
and  treasurer  of  the  cathedral  church  of  York :  but  he  soon 
quitted  this  post,  and  went  back  again  into  Italy,  lived  a 
considerable  time  at  Rome,  and  had  the  honour  of  con- 
versing familiarly  with  pope  Adrian  IV.  who  was  an  Eng- 

*  Biog.  BriU— Tanner.— Godwin. — Camden's  Britannia.  *  Ibid. 


B  E  L  M  E  Y  S.  405 

Jishman  by  birth.  Alexander  III.  who  succeeded  Adrian 
in  H59,  made  him  bishop  of  Poitou  in  France,  and  he 
was  consecrated  at  the  abbey  of  Dole,  in  the  diocese  of 
Berry.  He  sat  there  above  twenty  years,  and  was  trans* 
lated  to  the  archbishopric  of  Lyons,  and  became  thereby 
primate  of  all  France*  He  was  archbishop  of  that  city 
nearly  eleven  years.  It  is  said,  he  returned  into  England 
in  1194,  being  then  a  very  old  man;  but  we  are  not  told 
when  or  where  he  died.  Bale  informs  us,  that  he  vehe- 
mently opposed  archbishop  Becket  in  the  contests  be  had 
with  king  Henry  II.  and  that  he  was  very  expert  in  con* 
troversial  writing.  Bale  and  Pits  mention  the  titles  of  some 
of  his  works,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  any  of  them  are 
extant  Leland  could  not  discover  any  thing  certainly  writ* 
ten  by  him.  * 

BELON  (Peter),  M.  D.  of  the  faculty  of  Paris,  was  born 
about  1 5 1 8,  in  the  Maine.  He  travelled  into  Judea,  Greece, 
and  Arabia;  and  published  in  1555,  in  4to,  a  relation  of 
whatever  he  had  remarked  most  worthy  of  notice  in  those 
countries.  He  composed  several  other  works,  now  rare, 
which  were  much  esteemed  at  the  time,  for  their  correct* 
ness,  and  the  erudition  with  which  they  abound.  The 
chief  of  them  are,  1.  "  De  Arboribus  coniferis,"  Paris, 
1553,  4.to,  with  plates.  2.  "  Histoire  de  la  nature  des 
Oiseaux,"  1555,  folio.  3.  "  Portraits  d'Oiseaux,"  1557,  4to. 
4.  "  Histoire  des  Poissons,"  1551,  4to,  with  plates.  5.  "De 
la  nature  et  diversity  des  Poissons,"  1555,  8vo.  The  same 
in  Latin.  He  was  preparing  other  works  for  the  press, 
when  lie  was  assassinated  from  private  resentment  near 
Paris,  in  1564.  Henry  II.  and  Charles IX.  vouchsafed  him 
their  esteem,  and  the  cardinal  de  Tournon  his  friendship, 
defraying  the  expences  of  his  travels.  * 

BELSUNCE  (Henry  Francjs  Xavier  de),  bishop  of 
Marseilles.  This  illustrious  prelate  was  of  a  noble  family  in 
Guienne,  had  been  of  the  order  of  Jesuits,  and  was  made  bi- 
shop of  Marseilles  in  1 709.  The  assistance  he  gave  his  flock 
during  the  plague  of  1720,  that  desolated  the  city  of  Mar- 
seilles, deserves  to  be  commemorated.  He  was  seen  every 
where  during  that  terrible  calamity,  as  the  magistrate,  the 
physician,  the  almoner,  the  spiritual  director  of  his  flock.  In 
the  town-house  of  Marseilles  there  is  a  picture  representing 
him  giving  his  benediction  to  some  poor  wretches  who  are 

l  feiog.  Brit. — Tanner. — Godwin. — Camden's  Britannia. 
*  Diet.  Hist. — Moreri. — Haller  and  Manget. 


406  BELSUNCt 

dying  at  his  feet;  in  this  he  is  distinguished  from  the  rest 
of  his  attendants  by  a  golden  cross  on  his  breast.     Louis 
the  XVth,  in  1723,  in  consideration  of  his  exemplary  be- 
haviour during  the  plague,  made  him  an  offer  of  the  bishop- 
ric of  Laon,  in  Picardy,  a  see  of  greater  value  and  of  higher 
rank  than  his  own.     Of  this,  however,  he  would  not  ac- 
cept, saying,  that  he  refused  this  very  honourable  transla- 
tion that  he  might  not  leave  a  church  already  endeared  to 
him  by  the  sacrifices  of  life  and  property  which  he  had 
offered.    The  pope^  honoured  him  with  the  pallium  (a  mark 
of  distinction  in  dress  worn  only  by  archbishops),  and  Louis 
XV.  insisted  upon  his  acceptance  of  a  patent,  by  which, 
even  in  the  first  instance,  any  law-suit  he  might  be  so  un- 
fortunate as  to  have,  either  for  temporal  or  spiritual  mat- 
ters,  was  permitted  to  be  brought  before  the  parliament  of 
Paris*     He  died  in  1755,  closing  a  life  of  the  most  active 
benevolence  with  the  utmost  devotion  and  resignation.    He 
founded  at  Marseilles  a  college,  which  still  bears  his  name. 
He  wrote  "  L'histoire  des  Evgques  de  Marseille ;"  '<  Des 
Instructions  Pastorales;'9  and  in  1707,  when  be  was  very 
young,  he  published  "  La  vie  de  Mademoiselle  de  Foix 
Candale,"  a  relation  of  his,  who  had  been  eminent  for  her 
piety.     A  particular  account  of  the  exertions  of  this  bene- 
volent prelate  during  the  terrible  calamity  that  afflicted 
Marseilles  is  to  be  found  in  the  "  Relation  de  la  Peste  de 
Marseilles,  par  J.  Bertrand,"  12mo,  and  in  "  Oratio  fune- 
bris  illust  domini  de  Belsunce  Massiliensium  episcopi," 
with  the  translation  by  the  abbe  Lanfcmt,  1756,  8vo. 

The  "  Relation  de  la  Peste  de  Marseilles,"  by  M.  Ber- 
trand,  is  well  written  and  authentic.  He  was  a  physician, 
and  staid  in  the  town  during  the  whole  time  of  its  ravages. 

The  following  letter  from  this  excellent  bishop  to  the 
bishop  of  Soissons  speaks  so  much  in  his  favour,  that  we 
shall  make  no  apology  for  inserting  it 

'<  Sept.  SO,  1730,  N.S. 

"  I  wish,  my  lord,  I  were  as  eloquent  as  you  are  full  of 
seal  and  charity,  to  testify  my  grateful  acknowledegraent 
of  your  liberality,  and  the  charities  you  have  procured  us  ; 
but  in  our  present  consternation,  we  are  not  in  a  condition 
to  express  any  other. sentiment  than  that  of  grief.  Your 
alms  came  at  a  very  seasonable  time,  for  I  was  reduced  aK 
most  to  the  last  penny*  I  am  labouring  to  get  money  for 
two  bills  for  1000  livres,  which  the  bishop  of  Frejus  naa 


BELSUNCE.  407 

> 

pleased  to  send  us,  and  six  more  of  Mr.  Fontanteu,  though 
just  upon  the  decay  of  the  bills  of  1000  livres,  they  are 
not  very  current,  yet  I  hope  I  shall  succeed.  You,  my 
lord,  have  prevented  these  difficulties,  and  we  are  doubly 
obliged  to  you  for  it.  Might  I  presume  to  beg  the  favour 
of  you  to  thank,  in  my  name,  cardinal  de  Rohan,  M.  and. 
Madame  Dangeau,  and  the  curate  of  St  Sulpice,  for  their 
charities. 

"It  is  but  just  that  I  give  you  some  account  of  a  deso- 
late town  you  was  pleased  to  succour.  Never  was  deso- 
lation greater,  nor  ever  was  any  like  this.  There  have 
been  many  cruel  plagues,  but  none  was  ever  more  cruel : 
to  be  sick  and  dead  was  almost  the  same  thing.  As  soon 
as  the  distemper  gets  into  a  house,  it  never  leaves  it  till  it 
has  swept  all  the  inhabitants  one  after  another.  The 
fright  and  consternation  are  so  extremely  great,  that  the 
sick  are  abandoned  by  their  own  relations,  and  cast  out  of 
their  houses  into  the  streets,  upon  quilts  or  straw  beds^^ 
amongst  the  dead  bodies,  which  lie  there  for  want  of  people 
*o  inter  them.  What  a  melancholy  spectacle  have  we  here 
on  all  sides !  We  go  into  the  streets  full  of  dead  bodies 
half  rotten,  through  which  we  pass  to  come  to  a  dying  body, 
to  excite  him  to  an  act  of  contrition,  and  give  him  absolu- 
tion. For  above  fourteen  days  together,  the  blessed  sa- 
crament was  carried  every  where  to  all  the  sick,  and  the 
extreme  unction  was  given  them  with  a  zeal  of  which  we 
have  few  examples.  But  the  churches  being  infected  with 
the  stench  of  the  dead  bodies  flung  at  the  doors,  we  were 
obliged  to  leave  off,  and  be  content  with  .confessing  the 
poor  people.  At  present  I  have  no  more  confessors  ;  the 
pretended  corruptors  of  the  morality  of  Jesus  Christ  (the 
.  Jesuits),  without  any  obligation,  have  sacrificed  themselves, 
and  given  their  lives  for  their  brethren ;  whilst  the  gentle- 
men of  the  severe  morality  (the  Jansenists)  are  all  flown, 
and  have  secured  themselves,  notwithstanding  the  obliga- 
tions their  benefices  imposed  on  them;  and  nothing  can 
recal  them,  nor  ferret  them  out  of  their  houses.  The  two 
communities  of  the  Jesuits  are  quite  disabled,  to  the  re- 
'serve  of  one  old  man  of  seventy -four  years,  who  still  goes 
about  night  and  day,  and  visits  the  hospitals.  One  more 
is  just  come  from  Lyons,  purposely  to  hear  the  confessions 
of  the  infected,  whose  zeal  does  not  savour  much  of  the  ' 
pretended  laxity.  I  have  had  twenty-four  capuchins  dead, 
and  fourteen  sick,  but  I  am  in  expectation  of  more.  Seven 


408  BELSUNC'E.' 

recollecs,  as  many  cordeliers,  five  or  six  carms,  and  several 
minims,  are  dead,  and  all  the- best  of  the  clergy,  both  se- 
cular and  regular ;  which  grievously  afflicts  roe. 

"I  stand  in  need  of  prayers,  to  enable  me  to  support 
all  the  crosses  that  almost  oppress  me.  At  last  the  plague 
got  into  my  palace,  and  within  seven  days  I  lost  my  stew- 
ard, who  accompanied  me  in  the  streets,  two  servants,  two 
chairmen,  and  my  confessor :  my  secretary  and  another  lie 
sick,  so  that  they  have  obliged  me  to  quit  my  palace,  and 
retire  to  the  first  president,  who  was  so  kind  as  to  lend  me 
his  house.  We  are  destitute  of  all  succour;  we  have  no 
meat ;  and  whatsoever  I  could  do,  going  all  about  the  town, 
I  could  not  meet  with  any  that  would  undertake  to  distri- 
bute broth  to  the  poor  that  were  in  want.  The  doctors  of 
Montpelier,  who  came  hither  three  or  four  days  ago,  are 
frightened  at  the  horrid  stench  of  the  streets,  and  refuse 
to  visit  the  sick  till  the  dead  bodies  are  removed,  and  the 
streets  cleansed.  They  had  been  much  more  surprised  had 
they  come  a  fortnight  sooner ;  then  nothing  but  frightful 
dead  bodies  were  seen  on  all  sides,  and  there  was  no  stirring 
without  vinegar  at  our  noses,  though  that  could  not  hinder 
our  perceiving  the  filthy  stench  of  them.  I  had  200  dead 
bodies  that  lay  rotting  under  my  windows  for  the  space  of 
eight  days,  and  but  for  the  authority  of  the  first  president 
they  had  remained  there  much  longer.  At  present  things 
are  much  changed  ;  I  made  my  round  about  the  town,  and 
found  but  few;  but  a  prodigious  number  of  quilts  and 
blankets,  and  of  all  sorts  of  the  richest  clothes,  which  peo- 
ple would  touch  no  more,  and  are  going  to  burn. 

"  There  are  actually  in  the  streets  to  the  value  of  above 
200,000  livres.  The  disorder  and  confusion  have  hitherto 
been  extremely  great ;  but  all  our  hopes  are  in  the  great 
care  of  the  chevalier  de  Langeron,  governor  of  the  town. 
He  has  already  caused  some  shops  to  be  opened.  The 
change  of  the  governor,  and  of  the  season,  by  the  grace 
of  God,  will  be  advantageous.  Had  we  not  affected  to 
deceive  the  public,  by  assuring  that  the  evil  which  reigned 
was  not  the  plague ;  and  had  we  buried  the  dead  bodies 
which  lay  a  whole  fortnight  in  the  streets,  I  believe  the 
mortality  had  ceased,  and*  we  should  have  nothing  to  do 
but  provide  against  the  extreme  misery  which  necessarily 
must  be  the  sequel  of  this  calamity. 

"  You  cannot  imagine  the  horror  which  we  have  seen, 
nor  can  any  believe  it  that  has  not  seen  it ;  my  little  cou- 


BELSUNCE.  40* 

rage  has  often  almost  failed  me.  May  it  please  Almighty 
God  to  let  us  soon  see  an  end  of  it  There  is  a  great  di- 
minution of  the  mortality ;  and  those  who  hold  that  the 
moon  contributes  to  all  this,  are  of  opinion,  that  we  owe 
this  diminution  to  the  decline  of  the  moon,  and  that  we 

shall  have  reason  to  fear  when  it  comes  to  the  full.     For 

> 

my  pfcrt,  I  am  convinced,  we  owe  all  to  the  mercies  of 
God,  from  whom  alone  we  must  hope  for  relief  in  the  de- 
plorable condition  we  have  been  in  so  long  a  while. 

"  I  am,  &c. 

«  Henry,  bishop  of  Marseilles," 

When  the  plague  had  ceased,  M.  de  Lauzun  asked  an 
abbey  in  commendam  for  the  humane  and  benevolent  pre- 
late who  bad  attended  his  flock  with  such  assiduity  during 
the  time  of  that  dreadful  visitation.  The  regent,  to  whom 
the  request  was  made,,  had  forgotten  M.  de  Lauzun's  re- 
quest, and  appeared  much  embarrassed  at  having  neglected 
to  prefer  a  man  of  such  transcendant  virtue  as  M.  de  Bel-' 
sunce  was.  When  M.  de  Lauzun  iterated  his  request  to 
him,  the  latter,  looking  archly  at  him,  said  merely,  **  Mon- 
seigneur,  il  sera  mieux  un  autrefois"  The  regent,  how- 
ever, soon  afterwards  gave  him  a  benefice  to  hold  with  the 
bishopric  of  Marseilles,  which  he  could  never  be  prevailed 
upon  to  quit  for  a  more  lucrative  one.  Father  Vanier,  in 
his  poem  of  the  "  Praedium  Rusticum,"  and  Pope,  in  his 
Essay  on  Man,  Ep.  iv.  v.  107,  108,  have  paid  that  tribute 
to  his  memory,  to  which  he  is  entitled,  as  the  friend  and 
benefactor  of  mankind.  * 

BEMBO  (Pietro),  in  Lat.  Petrus  Bembus,  one  of  the 
restorers  of  polite  literature  in  Italy,  was  born  at  Venice  in 
1470,  of  an  ancient  and  honourable  family.  His  father, 
Bernardo,  who  died  in  1518,  was  an  accomplished  scholar, 
and  distinguished  statesman,  who  maintained  a  friendly  in- 
tercourse with  many  illustrious  and  learned  persons  of  the 
age,  and  is  honourably  spoken  of  by  various  writers.  On 
one  of  his  embassies  to  Florence  he  carried  his  son,  then 
in  his  eighth  year,  to  improve  him  in  the  Italian  language, 
which  was  supposed  to  be  spoken  and  written  in  that  city 
with  the  greatest  purity.  After  two  years,  he  returned, 
home  with  his  father,  and  was  placed  under  the  tuition  of 
Joannes  Alexander  Urticius,  and  continued  to  apply  to  his 

*  From  oar  hut  edition.— See  references  to  Bertrand's  "  Relation,  Jtc."— 
Moreri.— Diet.  Hart. 


410  B  E  M  B  6. 

*  • 

studies  with  great  assiduity,  acquiring  in  particular  a  cri- 
tical knowledge  of  the  Latin  tongue.  Being  solicitous  of 
acquiring  a  knowledge  also  of  the  Greek,  the  study  of 
which  was  at  that  time  confined  to  very  few,  he  resolved  to 
undertake  a  voyage  to  Messina,  and  avail  himself  of  the  * 
instructions  of  the  celebrated  Constantine  Lascaris.  Ac- 
cordingly he  set  out  in  1492,  accompanied  by  Agnolo  Ga- 
brielli,  a  young  Venetian  of  distinction,  his  friend  and  fel- 
low-student* and  profited  greatly  by  the  instructions  of 
Lascaris.  During  this  residence  in  Sicily,  which  lasted 
more  than  two  years,  he  composed  a  work  in  Latin,  en- 
titled "  P.  Bembi  de  i£tna  ad  Angelum  Chabrielem  liber," 
which  was  published  the  same  year  in  which  he  returned, 
1495,  4to,  and  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  publication 
from  the  Aldine  press  "  in  literis  rotundis."  His  composi- 
tions both  in,  Latin  and  Italian  soon  began  to  extend  his 
reputation,  not  only  through  the.  different  states  of  Italy, 
but  also  to  distant  countries.  His  father,  flattered  with  the 
approbation  bestowed  on  his  son,  was  desirous  of  employ- 
ing his  talents  in  the  service  of  his  country  in  some  public 
station,  and  for  some  time  Bembo  occasionally  pleaded  as  # 
an  advocate  with  success  and  applause,  until  being  disap- 
pointed in  obtaining  a  place  which  was  given  to  a  rival 
much  inferior  in  merit,  he  discovered  that  reluctance  for 
public  life,  which,  in  obedience  to  his  father,  he  had  but 
imperfectly  concealed,  and  determined  to  devote  his  whole 
attention  to  literature,  as  connected  with  the  profession  of 
the  church.  About  this  time,  it  is  said,  that  his  resolution 
was  confirmed  by  accidentally  going  into  a  church  when 
the  officiating  priest  was  reading  a  portion  of  the  evangeli- 
cal history,  and  had  just  come  to  the  words,  "  Peter,  follow 
me,"  which  Bembo  looked  upon  as  a  divine  admonition* 
There  is  nothing  in  his  character,  however,  that  can  give 
much  credibility  to  this  story,  which,  it  ought  to  be  men- 
tioned, some  say  occurred  long  after,  when  he  was  hesi- 
tating whether  he  should  accept  the  office  of  cardinal 

After  the  lapse  of  a  few  years,  which  he  spent  partly  at 
Venice  apd  partly  at  Padua  in  the  prosecution  of  his  studies, 
his  father  being  appointed  vicedomino  of  Ferrara,  young 
Bembo  accompanied  him  thither,  where  he  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  attending  the  philosophical  lectures  of  Nicolao 
Leoniceno,  and  commenced  an  acquaintance  with  Sadoleto, 
a#d  other  learned  men.  He  was  also  favourably  received 
at  court,  but  did  not  desist  from  the  prosecution  of  his 


BEMB  O.  411 

» 

studies.    When  about  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  be  be- 
gan his  "  Asolani,"  so  called  from  its  having  been  finished 
at  Asolo,  a  town  in  the  Venetian  territory.     This  work,  in 
which  the  subject  of  love  is  attempted  in  a  moral  and  phi- 
losophical point  of  view,  soon  became  so  popular  as  to 
contribute  much  to  his  fame.     It  was  first  printed  at  the 
Aldine  press  in  1505,  4to,  and  was  often  reprinted.     He 
afterwards  returned  with  his  father  to  Venice,  where,  and 
at  Padua,  he  continued  his  studies  principally  with  a  view 
of  improving  his  native  language.     At  length,  unwilling 
to  continue  burthensome  to  his  father,  he  determined  to 
try  his  fortune  at  the  court  of  Urbino,  at  that  time  the  cen- 
tre of  genius,  fashion,  and  taste,  and  where  Castiglioni  laid 
the  scene  of  his  "  II  Cortegiano,"  and  introduced  Bembo 
as  one  of  the  speakers.     Bembo  was  recommended  here  in 
1506,  and  soon  became  admired  for  his  address,  eloquence, 
and  manners,  while  he  still  prosecuted  his  favourite  studies, 
and  produced  his,  "  Rime,"  and  various  Latin  composi- 
tions.    He  also  occasionally  visited  the  court  of  Rome, 
where  the  duchess  of  Urbino  Elizabetha  Gonzaga  zealous- 
ly endeavoured  to  promote  his  interest.     In  the  last  year 
of  the  pontificate  of  Julius  II.  he  accompanied  Sadoleto 
and  other  persons  of  distinction  to  that  city ;  and  among 
other  literary  services  rendered  by  him  to  the  pope,  he 
decyphered  an  ancient  manuscript  written  in  abbreviated 
characters,  a  task  which  others  had  in  vain  attempted,  and 
which  the  pope  appears  to  have  rewarded  by  some  eccle- 
siastical preferments  of  the  sinecure  kind. 

In  1513,  when  Leo  X.  became  pope,  he  appointed 
Bembo  one  of  his  secretaries,  who,  now  in  his  forty-third 
year,  settled  at  Rome  in  this  character,  and  had  bis  friend 
Sadoleto  for  his  colleague.  By  them  the  pope's  corre- 
spondence was  carried  on  in  pure  and  classical  Latin, 
a  thing  which  Casa  says  was  neither  practised  before  nor 
thought  practicable,  former  secretaries  having  compounded 
their  Latin  of  all  manner  of  languages  and  provincialisms. 
Bembo  in  other  respects  rendered  himself  so  acceptable  to 
Leo,  that  he  employed  him  in  commissions  of  the  highest 
trust,  which  he  rewarded  with  liberality.  But  the  court 
of  this  pope  was  at  the  same  time  the  seat  of  voluptuous- 
Hess,  and  what  Bembo  gained  in  courtly  promotion  and 
.  literary  fame,  he  lost  in  morals  and  moral  character.  All 
the  excuse  Casa  can  make  is  that  he  was  not  yet  in  holy 
9jrd$rs,    He  here  formed  an  illicit  connexion  with  a  girl 


41*  B  E  M  B  O. 

of  sixteen  years  of  age,  by  whom  he  had  three  sons  and  a 
daughter.  Among  other  objeetions  to  Bembo's-  character, 
it  is  said  that  he  participated  in  Leo's  ill-concealed  con- 
tempt for  religion,  and,  what  was  perhaps  true,  because 
characteristic,  he  professed  to  avoid  the  perusal  of  his  bible 
and  breviary,  for  fear  of  spoiling  his  Latinity. 

The  letters  which  Bembo  wrote  in  Latin  in  the  name  of 
Leo  X.  were  published  with  the  rest  of  his  epistles.  Among 
other  commissions  of  importance  in  which  he  was  engaged, 
he  undertook  at  the  pope's  instance  an  embassy  to  Venice, 
for  the  purpose  of  detaching  his  countrymen  from  their 
alliance  with  the  king  of  France,  and  engaging  them  to 
take  a  part  in  the  coalition  formed  against  that  monarch  by 
the  emperor,  the  king  of  Spain,  and  the  pope. 

While  he  resided  at  Rome,  he  had  many  opportunities 
of  indulging  his  taste  for  antiquities,  and  he  is  ranked 
among  the  most  scientific  collectors  of  statues,  medals,  and 
other  ancient  and  classical  remains.  Besides  other  literary 
curiosities  in  his  museum,  particular  mention  is  made  of 
two  beautiful  and  finely  ornamented  manuscripts  of  Virgil 
and  Terence,  which  were  supposed  to  have  survived  the 
ravages  of  upwards  of  a  thousand  years ;  the  other  is  an 
autograph  of  the  Italian  poems  of  Petrarch,  by  which  Al- 
dus corrected  the  edition  of  them  published  by  him  in 
1501.  That  printer,  who  lay  under  various  other  literary, 
obligations  to  Bembo,  in.  his  preface  to  the  edition  of. 
Pindar,  published  in  1513,  terms  him  "  Decus  erudito- 
rum  retatis  nostras,  et  magnae  spes  altera  Romae." 

An  indisposition  of  a  tedious  and  obstinate  nature,  the 
effect  of  late  watching,  close  application,  and  the  fatigues 
of  office,  rendering  some  respite  and  a  change  of  situa- 
tion absolutely  necessary,  with  the  advice  of  his  physicians, 
seconded  by  the  instances  of  Leo,  Bembo  retired  to  Padua 
for  the  sake  of  its  air  and  baths.  It  is  thought,  however, 
by  one  of  his  biographers,  that  he  had  some  cause  of  dis- 
satisfaction with  the  pontiff,  and  that  he  left  Rome  with  a 
resolution  never  to  return.  Be  this  as  it  may,  he  appears 
to  have  relished  his  retirement,  dividing  his  time  between 
bis  literary  labours  and  the  conversation  of  his  learned 
friends.  His  hours,  we  are  told,  were  sometimes  agree- 
ably diversified  by  the  delights  of  an  extensive  garden, 
where  he  amused  and  recreated  himself  with  botanical  re- 
searches, usually  spending  the  summer  season  at  Villa 
Bozza>  in  the  vicinity  of  Padua,  his  paternal  inheritance, " 


B  E  M  B  O.  41$ 

and  the  scene  of  a  great  part  of  his  juvenile  studies.  In 
this  retirement,  likewise,  he  completed  his  "  Prose,'/  which 
had  been  begun  long  before,  and  which  was  now  published 
under  the  title  of  "  Prose  di  M.  Pietro  Bembo,"  Venice, 
1525,  fol.  Upon  the  death  of  Andrea  Navagero,  in  1529, 
to  whom  the  task  bad  been  publicly  deputed  of  recording 
the  transactions  of  the  Venetian  republic,  the  council  of 
ten  unanimously  fixed  upon  Bembo  to  supply  this  loss, 
which  although  now  in  his  sixtieth  year  he  undertook,  pro- 
fessedly taking  the  style  of  Caesar  as  his  model.  On  the 
accession  of  Paul  III.  in  1534,  this  pontiff,  willing  to  mani- 
fest his  regard  for  the  republic,  of  Venice,  by  the  advance- 
ment of  one  of  its  nobility,  is  supposed  to  have  destined 
Bembo  to  the  rank  of  cardinal.  But  in  consequence  of  the 
objections  urged  against  some  of  his  writings,  and  past  life, 
his  appointment  was  not  publicly  announced  till  the  be- 
ginning of  1539.  On  accepting  this  dignity,  he  is  said  to 
have  determined  to  devote  himself  wholly  to  the  duties  of 
his  office,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  think  that  he  did  not 
conduct  himself  as  became  his  now  elevated  character. 

His  death  was  accelerated  by  an  accident  which  he  met 
with  while  riding  on  horseback.  In  passing  through  a 
small  postern,  he  received  a  bruise  on  his  side,  which 
brought  on  a  slow  fever.  He  was  sensible  of  his  ap- 
proaching dissolution,  and  conversed  cheerfully  with  his 
frieuds  on  that  subject  He  died  Jan.  20,  1547,  aged 
seventy-six  years  and  eight  months,  and  was  interred  in 
the  church  of  S.  Maria  ella  Minerva  at  Rome,  behind  the 
great  altar,  and  between  the  tombs  of  Leo  X.  and  Clement 
VII.  with  an  inscription  by  his  son  Tprquato. 

Mr.  Roscoe,  whose  researches  into  the  literature  of  this 
age,  entitle  his  opinions  to  great  respect,  observes  that  the 
high  commendation  bestowed  on  the  writings  of  Bembo  by 
almost  all  his  contemporaries,  have  been  confirmed  by  the 
best  critics  of  succeeding  times ;  nor  can  it  be  denied  that 
by  selecting  as  his  models  Boccacqio  and  Petrarch,  and 
by  combining  their  excellences  with  his  own  correct  and 
elegant  taste,  he  contributed  in  an  eminent  degree  to  banish 
that  rusticity  of  style,  which  charactersed  the  writings  of 
most  of  the  Italian  authors  at  the  commencement  of  the 
sixteenth  century.  His  authority  and  example  produced 
an  astonishing  effect,  and  among  his  disciples  and  imitators 
may  be  found  many  of  the  first  scholars  and  most  distin- 
guished writers  of  the  age.    It  must,  however,  be  observed, 


414  B  E  M  B  O. 

that  the  merit  of  his  works  consists  rather  in  purity  and 
correctness  of  diction,  than  in  vigour  of  sentiment  or  va- 
riety of  poetical  ornament;  and  that  they  exhibit  but  little 
diversity  either  of  character  or  subject,  having  for  the  most 
part  been  devoted  to  the  celebration  of  an  amorous  pas* 
sion.  In  the  perusal  of  his  poetical  works  we  perceive 
nothing  of  that  genuine  feeling,  which  proceeding  from 
the  heart  of  the  author  makes  a  direct  and  irresistible  ap- 
peal to  that  of  the  reader ;  and  but  little  even  of  that  se- 
condary characteristic  of  genius  which  luxuriates  in  the 
regions  of  fancy,  and  by  its  vivid  and  rapid  imagery  de^ 
lights  the  imagination.  In  this  respect  his  example  was 
hurtful,  as  his  numerous  imitators  soon  inundated  Italy 
with  writings  which  seldom  exhibit  any  distinction  either 
of  character  or  merit  It  is  also  thought  that  in  his  Latin 
writings  he  has  too  closely  followed  the  ancients ;  and  in 
his  verse  as  well  as  his  prose,  has  too  often  endeavoured  to 
imitate  Cicero.  Tenhove  remarks  how  ridiculously  he 
adopted  the  phrases  of  Cicero  on  ecclesiastical  subjects, 
and  Erasmus  has  ridiculed  this  practice  with  great  wit  in 
his  Ciceronianus.  The  same  critic  adds  that  Bembo'f 
Latin  style  is  forced  and  laboured  ;  words  and  things  are 
perpetually  at  war :  and  if  he  always  triumphs,  it  is  some- 
times by  the  dint  of  excessive  pains,  and  sometimes  at  the 
expence  of  judgment  The  Roman  orator  is  to  Bembo, 
what  a  graceful  dancer  is  to  a  posture-master.  The  whole 
of  Bembo's  works,  Latin  and  Italian,  were  published  at 
Venice  in  1729,  4  vols.  foL  l 

BEMMEL  (Charles  Sebastian),  a  landscape  painter* 
was  born  at  Bamberg,  April  1,  1745,  and  received  the 
first  instructions  in  his  art  from  his  father,  John  Christo- 
pher, who  was  painter  to  the  court  He  then  went  to 
Nuremberg,  and  studied  the  works  of  the  best  masters, 
some  of  whose  styles,  as  in  the  trees  of  Waterloo,  and  the 
rocks  of  Berghem,  Salvator  Rosa,  Meyer,  &c.  he  imi- 
tated with  considerable  success.  His  favourite  subjects 
were  sea-views,  tempests,  fires,  and  sun-rising  and  setting, 
which  were  in  much  request  in,  England.  He  died  at  Nu- 
remberg, Nov.  26,  1796,  without  having  been  able  U> 
finish  some  pictures  bespoke  for  England.* 

BEMMEL  (William  Van),  also  a  landscape  painter, 
and  probably  an  ancestor  of  the  preceding,  was  born  at 

•  Gresswetl'f  <  Memoirs  of  Politianus,  fcc— Resort's  Lorenzo  and  Lea— 
Tenhove's  House  of  Medici.— Casts  Monimenta,  edit.  1564.— Geo.  Diet— Mo— 
{•ri-tSaxii  Onomartkon.  *  I)icL  Hist. 


BEMMEL  411 

Utrecht  in  1630,  and  was  one  of  the  best  scholars  of  Her* 
man  Sachtleven,  or  Zaftleven.  For  improvement  he  af- 
terwards visited  Rome,  and  sketched  every  beautiful  scene 
that  occurred  to  him  as  he  travelled  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Rome,  and  particularly  about  Tivoli,  by  which  means 
he  furnished  himself  with  excellent  materials  for  his  future 
compositions.  He  then  settled  at  Nuremberg,  where  his 
principal  works  were  long  to  be  seen,  and  where  he  died 
Nqv.  10,  1708.  His  colouring  is  lively  and  natural,  if  not 
sometimes  a  little  too  green;  but  his  figures,  and  the  boats, 
barges,  and  other  vessels,  which  be  always  introduces  on 
the  rivers,  or  stationed  near  the  banks,  are  well  designed, 
and  touched  with  spirit  His  trees,  indeed,  are  somewhat 
stiff  and  formal ;  but  in  general  his  pictures  have  a  pleasing 
effect,  as  the  distances  are  conducted  with  judgment,  and 
every  part  handled  in  a  masterly  manner.  The  lights  and 
shadows  of  his  landscapes  are  distributed  with  singular 
skill;  and  his  skies  are  usually  clear,  warm,  and  natural. 
His  son  John  George,  who  died  in  1723,  was  also  an  artist 
of  some  eminence,  especially  for  his  battle-pieces. l 

BENAVIDIO  (Makk),  in  Latin  Marcus  Mantua  Be- 
Navidius,  an  eminent  lawyer,  the  son  of  John  Peter  Be- 
navidio,  a  physician,  was  born  at  Padua,  in  1489.  He 
excelled  in  the  study  of  polite  literature  and  the  civil  and 
canon  law,  which  last  he  taught  for  sixty  years  at  Padua, 
with  distinguished  approbation.  During  this  honourable 
career,  he  was  often  solicited  to  leave  his  situation  for 
higher  preferment,  particularly  by  the  university  of  Bo- 
logna, the.  king  of  Portugal,  the  pope,  and  other  sove- 
reigns, but  he  preferred  living  in  bis  own  country,  where 
he  received  and  deserved  so  much  respect.  ,  He  was  three 
times  honoured  by  the  title  of  chevalier,  by  the  emperor 
Charles  V.  in  1545,  by  Ferdinand  I.  in  1561,  and  by  pope 
Pius  IV.  in  1564.  He  died  March  28,  1582,  in  the  nine- 
ty-third year  of  his  age.  His  principal  works  are :  1 . "  Dia- 
logus  de  concilio,"  Venice,  1541.,  4to,  in  which  he  pre- 
fers the  decision  of  a  council  to  that  of  the  pope  in  matters 
of  faith.  2.  "Epitome  illustrium  jurisconsultorum,"  Padua, 
,1553,  8vo,  printed  afterwards  in  Fichard's  Lives  of  Law* 
yers,  Padua,  1565,  and  in  Hoffman's  edition  of  Pancirol- 
Jus,  Leipsic,  1721,  4ta*  3.  "  Illustrium  jurisconsultorum 
imagines,"  Rome,  1£66,  fol.  and  Venice,  1 567,  with  twenty* 
four  portraits.    4.  "  Observationes  legales,"  Venice,  1545, 

»  Pilkinfton.— Descamps,  rol.  II.— Diet.  Hist. 


416  BENAVIDIO. 


-»« 


•m  5.  "Polymathiae  Libri  duodecim,'\  Venice,  1558. 
6.  "  Collectanea  super  jus  Csesareum,"  Venice,  1584,  fol. 
All  these  works  were  highly  esteemed  for  learning,  and 
are  now  of  rare  occurrence.  His  adding  the  name  of 
Mantua  to  his  own  on  some  occasions,  as  in  his  "  Obser- 
vationes  legates,"  is  said  to  have  been  in  compliment  to 
his  father,  who  was  a  native  of  that  city. l 

BENBOW  (John),  a  brave  English  admiral,  descended 
of  an  ancient  Shropshire  family,  reduced  in  fortune  by  its 
adherence  to  Charles  I.  was  born  about  the  year  1650, 
at  Coton-hill,  Shrewsbury,  an  ancient  house  now  occupied 
by  Mr.  Bishop,  a  maltster  of  that  place.  His  father,  co- 
lonel John  Benbow,  dying  when  he  was  very  young,  this 
ion  had  no  other  provision  than  being  bred  to  the  sea,  a 
profession  which  he  eagerly  adopted,  and  in  which  ,he  was 
so  successful,  that  before  he  was  thirty  he  became  master, 
and  partly  owner,  of  a  ship  called  the  Benbow  frigate, 
employed  in  the  Mediterranean  trade,  in  which  he  would 
have  probably  acquired  a  good  , estate,  if  an  accident  bad 
not  brought  him  to  serve  in  the  British  navy.  In  the  year 
1686,  he  was  attacked  in  his  passage  to  Cadiz  by  a  Sallee 
rover,  against  whom  he  defended  himself,  though  very 
unequal  in  the  number  of  men,  with  the  utmost  bravery, 
and,  although  th$  Moors  boarded  him,  they  were  quickly 
beat  out  of  the  ship  again,  with  the  loss  of  thirteen  men, 
whose  heads  captain  Benbow  ordered  to  be  cut  off,  and 
thrown  into  a  tub  of  pork '  pickle.  When  he  arrived  at 
Cadiz,  he  went  ashore,  and  ordered  a  negro  servant  to 
follow  him,  with  the  Moors  heads  in  a  sack.  He  had 
scarcely  landed  before  the  officers  of  the  revenue  inquired 
of  his  servant,  what  he  had  in  his  sack  ?  The  captain  an- 
swered, "  Salt  provisions  for  his  own  use."  The  officers 
insisted  upon  seeing  them,  which  captain  Benbow  refused. 
The  officers  told  him  that  the  magistrates  were  sitting, 
and  he  might  appeal  to  them,  but  that  it  was  nob  in  their 
power  to  act  otherwise.  The  captain  consented  to  the 
proposal,  and  the  magistrates  treated  him  with  great  ci- 
vility, told  him  they  were  sorry  to  make  a  point  of  such  a 
trifle,  but  that  since  he  had  refused  to  shew  the  contents 
of  his  sack  to  their  officers,  the  nature  of  their  employ- 
ments obliged  them  to  demand  a  sight  of  them;  and  that 
as  they  doubted  not  they  were  salt  provisions,  the  shewing 

i  Moreri.— Diet,  Hist,— Sani  Onomaiticon. 


BENBOW,  41T 

• 

them  could  be  of  no  great  consequence.  "  I  told  yoto," . 
said  the  captain  sternly,  "  they  were  salt  provisions  for  my 
own  use.  Caesar,  throw  them  down  upon  the  table,  and, 
gentlemen,  if  you  like  them,  they  are  at  your  service.9' 
The  Spaniards  were  exceedingly  struck  at  the  sight  of  the 
Moors9  heads,  and  no  less  astonished  at  the  account  of  the 
captain's  adventure,  who  with  so  small  a  force  had  been 
able  to  defeat  such  a  number  of  barbarians.  This  anec- 
dote, in  our  opinion,  reflects  but  little  credit  on  the 
feelings  of  our  seaman,  nor  does  it  clearly  appear  why  he 
should  think  this  barbarous  display  necessary  for  his  repu- 
tation. These  magistrates,  however,  sent  an  account  of 
the  matter  to  the  court  of  Madrid,  and  Charles  II.  then 
king  of  Spain,  invited  Benbow  to  court,  where  he  was  re- 
ceived with  great  respect,  dismissed  with  a  handsome 
present,  and  his  Catholic  majesty  wrote  a  letter  in  his 
behalf  to  king  James,  who,  upon  the  captain's  return* 
gave  him  a  ship,  which  was  his  introduction  to  the  royal 
navy.  After  the  revolution  he  was  constantly  employed, 
and  frequently  at  the  request  of  the  merchants,  was  ap- 
pointed to  cruize  in  the  channel,  where  he  ably  protected 
our  own  trade,  and  .annoyed  and  distressed  that  of  the 
enemy.  He  was  likewise  generally  made  choice  of  for 
bombarding  the  French  ports,  in  which  he  shewed  the 
most  intrepid  courage,  by  going  in  person  in  his  boat  to 
encourage  and  protect  the  engineers,  sharing  in  all  their 
hardships.  It  is  certain  that  several  of  those  dreadful  bom- 
bardments spoiled  several  ports,  and  created  a  terror  on  the 
French  coast,  notwithstanding  all  the  precautions  their  go* 
vernment  could  take  to  keep  up  their  spirits.  This  vigour 
and  activity  recommended  Benbow  so  effectually  to  king 
William,  that  he  was  very  early  promoted  to  a  flag,  and 
intrusted  with  the  care  of  blocking  up  Dunkirk ;  the  pri» 
vateers  from  thence  proving  extremely  detrimental  to  our 
trade  during  all  that  war.  In  1695,  we  find  him  thus  em* 
ployed  with  a  few  English  and  Dutch  ships,  when  the  fa* 
mous  Du  Bart  had  the  good  luck  to  escape  him,  with  nine 
sail  of  clean  ships,  with  which  he  did  a  great  deal  of  mis* 
chief,  both  to  pur  trade  and  to  that  of  the  Dutch.  Rearr 
admiral  Benbow,  however,  followed  him  as  well  as  he 
could  ;  but  the  Dutch  ships  having,  or  pretending  to  have 
no  orders,  quitted  him,  which  hindered  from  going  to  the 
Dogger-bank,  as  he  intended,  and  obliged  him  to  sail  to 
Yarmouth  roads }  and  here  he  received  advice  that  Da  Bart 
Vol.  IV.  E  s 


418  BENBOW. 

had  fallen  in  with  the  Dutch  fleet  of  seventy  merchantmen, 
escorted  by  five  frigates,  and  that  he  had  taken  all  the  latter, 
and  thirty  of  the  vessels  under  their  convoy  ;  which  might 
probably  have  been  prevented,  if  the  rear-admiral  could 
have  persuaded  the  Dutch  to  have  continued  with  him. 
As  it  was,  he  safely  convoyed  a  great  English  fleet  of 
merchantmen  to  Gottenburgh,  and  then  returned  to  Yar- 
mouth roads,  and  from*  thence  to  the  Downs,  for  a  supply 
of  provisions.  He  afterwards  resumed  his  design  of  seeking 
Du  Bart ;  but  his  ships  being  much  cleaner  than  the 
rear-admiral's,  he  escaped  him  a  second  time,  though 
once  within  sight  of  him.  In  1697,  he  sailed  the  10th  of 
April,  from  Spithead,  with  seven  third-rates  and  two  fire- 
ships,  and  after  some  time  returned  to  Portsmouth  for 
provisions ;  after  which  he  had  the  good  fortune  to  convoy 
the  Virginia  and  West-India  fleets  safe  into  port  He 
then  repaired  to  Dunkirk,  where  he  received  from  captain 
Bowman  two  orders  or  instructions  from  the  lords  of  the 
admiralty;  one  to  pursue  M.  Du  Bart,  and  to  destroy  his 
ships  if  possible,  at  any  place,  except  under  the  forts  in 
Norway  and  Sweden ;  the  other  to  obey  the  king's  com- 
mands, pursuant  to  an  order  from  his  majesty  for  that 
purpose.  On  the  30th  of  July,  rear-admiral  Vandergoes 
joined  him  with  eleven  Dutch  ships,  when  he  proposed 
that  one  of  the  squadrons  should  be  so  placed,  as  that 
Dunkirk  might  be  south  of  them,  and  the  other  in  or  near 
Ostend  road,  that  if  Du  Bart  should  attempt  to  pass,  they 
might  the  better  discover  him  :  but  the  Dutch  commander 
objected  that  his  ships  being  foul,  they  were  not  in  a  con- 
dition to  pursue  him.  Rear-admiral  Benbow  being  disap- 
pointed in  this  project,  immediately  formed  another ;  for, 
observing  in  the  beginning  of  August  that  ten  French  fri- 
gates were  hauled  into  the  bason  to  clean,  he  judged  their 
design  was  to  put  to  sea  by  the  next  spring- tide ;  and  there- 
fore,.as  his  ships  were  all  foul,  he  wrote  up  to  the  board,  to 
desire  that  four  of  the  best  sailers  might  be  ordered  to  Sheer- 
ness  to  clean,  and  that  the  others  might  come  to  the  Downs, 
not  only  to  take  in  water,  but  also  to  heel  and  scrub,  which 
he  judged  might  be  done  before  the  next  spring-tide  gave 
the  French  an  opportunity  of  getting  over  the  bar.  But 
this  was  not  then  thought  advisable,  though  he  afterwards 
received  orders  for  it,  when  it  vyas  too  late.  By  this  un- 
lucky accident,  the  French  had  an  opportunity  of  getting 
tut  with  five  clean  ships  $  which,  however,  did  not  hinder 


B  E  N  B  O  W.  419 

the  admiral  from  pursuing  them  as  well  as  he  was  able, 
and  some  ships  of  his  squadron  had  the  good  luck  to  take  -a 
Dunkirk  privateer  often  guns  and  sixty  men,  which  had  done 
a  great  deal  of  mischief.  This  was  one  of  the  last  actions 
of  the  war,  and  the  rear-admiral  soon  after  received  orders 
to  return  home  with  the  squadron  under  his  command.  It 
is  very  remarkable,  that  as  the  disappointments  we  met 
with  in  the  course  of  this  war  occasioned  very  loud  com- 
plaints against  such  as  had  the  direction  of  our  maritime 
affairs,  and  against  several  of  our  admirals,  there  was  not 
one  word  said,  in  any  of  the  warm  and  bitter  pamphlets 
of  those  times,  to  the  prejudice  of  Mr.  Benbow.  On  the 
contrary,  the  highest  praises  were  bestowed  upon  him  in 
many  of  those  pieces,  and  his  vigilance  and  activity  made 
him  equally  the  favourite  of  the  seamen  and  the  mer- 
chants; the  former  giving  him  always  the  strongest  marks 
of  their  affection,  and  the  latter  frequently  returning  him 
thanks  for  the  signal  services  he  did  them,  and  for  omitting 
no  opportunity  that  offered  of  protecting  their  commerce, 
even  in  cases  where  he  had  no  particular  orders.  With 
respect  to  political  parties,  he  never  seems  to  have  had 
any  attachments,  which  probably  made  him  be  respected 
.by  them  all.  On  one  occasion  king  William  consulted 
him  about  a  question  agitated  in  those  times,  respecting 
the  expediency  of  preferring  tars,  as  they  were  called,  or 
gentlemen  in  the  navy;  and  though  Mr.  Benbow  con* 
sidered  himself,  and  was  considered  by  all  the  world,  as 
one  of  the  former,  yet  he  told  the  king  it  was  safest  to 
employ  both,  and  that  the  danger  lay  in  preferring  gentle- 
men without  merit,  and  tars  beyond  their  capacities. 

After  the  conclusion  of  the  peace  of  Ryswick,  and 
even  while  the  partition  treaties  were  negociating,  king 
William  formed  a  design  of  doing  something  very  con- 
siderable in  the  West-Indies,  in  case  his  pacific  views 
should  be  disappointed,  or  Charles  II.  of  Spain  should  die 
suddenly,  as  was  daily  expected.  There  were,  indeed, 
many  reasons  which  rendered  the  sending  a  squadron  at 
that  time  into  those  parts  highly  requisite.  Our  colonies 
were  in  a  very  weak  and  defenceless  condition,  the  seas 
swarmed  with  pirates ;  the  Scots  had  established  a  colony 
at  Darien,  which  gav&the  English  little  satisfaction,  at  the 
same  time  that  it  provoked  the  Spaniards.  King  William 
himself  fixed  upon  rear-admiral  Benbow  to  command  this 
squadron,  consisting  only  of  three  fourth-rates ;  and  when 

n  K  2 


*20  B  E  N  B  O  W, 

he  went  to  take  upon  him  his  command,  he  received  pri- 
vate instructions  from  the  king  to  make  the  best  obser- 
vations he  could  on  the  Spanish  ports  and  settlements,  but 
to  keep  as  fair  as  possible  with  the  governors,  and  to  afford 
them  any  assistance  he  could,  if  they  desired  it. 

Rear-admiral  Benbow  sailed  in  the  month  of  November 
1698,  and  did  not  arrive  in  the  West  Indies  till  the  Feb. 
following,  where  he  found  that  most  of  our  colonies  were 
in  a  bad  condition,  many  of  them  engaged  in  warm  disputes 
with  their  governors,  the  forces  that  should  have  been  kept 
up  iti  them  for  their  defence  so  reduced  by  sickness,  de- 
sertion, and  other  accidents,  that  little  or  nothing  was  to 
be  expected  from  them ;  but  the  admiral  carried  with  him 
colonel  Collingwood's  regiment,  which  he  disposed  of  to 
the  best  advantage  in  the  Leeward  Islands.  This  part  of 
his  charge  being  executed,  he  began  to  think  of  perform- 
ing the  other  part  of  his  commission,  and  of  looking  into 
the  state  of  the  Spanish  affairs,  as  it  had  been  recommend- 
ed to  him  by  the  king;  and  a  proper  occasion  of  doing  this 
very  speedily  offered,  for,  being  informed  that  the  Spa- 
niards at  Carthagena  had  seized  two  of  our  ships,  with  an 
intent  to  employ  them  in  an  expedition  they  were  then 
meditating  against  the  Scots  at  Darien,  he  resolved  to  re- 
store those  ships  to  their  right  owners.  With  this  view  he 
stood  over  to  the  Spanish  coast,  and  coming  before  Bocca- 
Cjhica  castle,  he  sent  his  men  ashore  for  wood  and  water, 
which,  though  he  asked  with  great  civility  of  the  Spanish 
governor,  he  would  scarcely  permit  him  to  take.  This 
highly  incensed  the  admiral,  who  sent  his  own  lieutenant 
to  the  governor,  with  a  message,  importing  that  he  not 
only  wanted  those  necessaries,  but  that  he  came  likewise 
for  the  English  ships  that  lay  in  the  harbour,  and  had  been 
detained  there  for  some  time,  which,  if  not  sent  to  him  im- 
mediately, he  would  come  and  take  by  force.  The  gover- 
nor answered  him  in  very  respectful  terms,  that  if  he  would 
leave  his  present  station,  in  which  he  seemed  to  block  up 
their  port,  the  ships  would  be  sent  out  to  him.  With  this 
request  the  admiral  complied,  but  finding  the  governor 
trifled  with  him,  and  that  his  men  were  in  danger  of  falling 
into  the  cotintry  distemper,  he  sent  him  another  message, 
that  if  in.  twenty-four  hours  the  ships  were  not  sent  him,  he 
would  have  an  opportunity  of  seeing  the  regard  an  English 
officer  had  to  his  word.  The  Spaniards  immediately  sent 
out  the  ships,  with  which  the  admiral  returned  to  Jamaica. 


BENBOW.  421 

There  he  received  an  account,  that  the  Spaniards  at  Porto- 
JJello  had  seized  several  of  our  ships  employed  in  the  slave- 
trade,  on  the  old  pretence,  that  the  settlement  at  D^rien 
was  a  breach  of  peace.  At  the  desire  of  the  parties  con- 
cerned, the  admiral  sailed  thither  also,  and  demanded  these 
ships,  but  received  a  rude  answer  fronl  the  admiral  of  the 
Barlovento  fleet,  who  happened  to  be  then  at  Porto-Bello. 
Rear-admiral  Benbow  expostulated  with  him,  insisting,  that 
as  the  subjects  of  the  crown  of  England  had  never  injured 
those  of  his  Catholic  majesty,  be  ought  not  to  make  prize 
pf  their  ships  for  injuries  done  by  another  nation.  The 
Spaniards  replied  shrewdly,  that  since  both  crowns  stood  on 
the  same  head,  it  was  no  wonder  that  he  took  the  subjects 
of  the  one  crown -for  the  other.  After  many  altercations, 
however,  and  when  the  Spaniards  saw  the  colony  at  Darien 
received  no  assistance  from  Jamaica,  the  ships  were  re* 
stored.  On  his  return  to  Jamaica,  towards  the  latter  end 
of  the  year,  he  received  a  supply  of  provisions  from  Eng- 
land, and,  soon  after,  orders  to  return  home,  which  he  did 
with  six  men  of  war,  taking  New  England  in  his  way,  and 
arrived  safe,  bringing  with  him  from  the  Plantations  suffi- 
cient testimonies  of  his  having  discharged  his  duty,  which 
secured  him  from  all  danger  of  censure ;  for,  though  the 
bouse  of  commons  expressed  very  high  resentment  at  some 
circumstances  that  attended  the  sending  this  fleet,  the 
greatest  compliments,  were  paid  to  his  courage,  capacity, 
and  integrity,  by  all  parties ;  and  the  king,  as  a  signal  mark 
pf  his  kind  acceptance  of  his  services,  granted  him  an 
augmentation  of  arms,  which  consisted  in  adding  to  the 
three  bent  bows  he  already  bore,  as  many  arrows,  His  ma- 
jesty also  consulted  him  as  much  or  more  than  any  man  of 
his  rank,  and  yet  without  making  the  admiral  himself  vain, 
or  exposing  him  in  any  degree  to  the  dislike  of  the  ministers. 
When  the  new  war  broke  out,  his  majesty's  first  care  was  to 
put  his  fleet  into  the  best  order  possible,  and  to  distribute 
the  commands  therein  to  officers  that  he  could  depend 
upon,  and  to  this  it  was  that  Mr..  Benbow  owed  his  being 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  vice-admiral  of  the  blue.  He  was 
at  that  time  cruising  off  Dunkirk,  in  order  to  prevent  an 
invasion ;  but  admiral  Benbow  having  satisfied  the  ministry 
that  there  was  no  danger  on  this  side,  it  was  resolved  to 
send  immediately  a  strong  squadron  to  the  West  Indies, 
consisting  of  two  third-rates  and  eight  fourths,  under  the 
command  of  an  officer,  whose  courage  and  conduct  might 


422  BENBOW. 

be  relied  on.  Mr.  Benbow  was  thought  on  by  the  ministry, 
as  soon  as  the  expedition  was  determined,  but  the  king 
would  not  hear  of  it.  He  said  that  Benbow  was  in  a  man- 
ner just  come  home  from  thence,  where  he  had  met  with 
nothing  but  difficulties,  and  therefore  it  was  but  fit  some  . 
other  officer  should  take  his  turn.  One  or  two  were  namecf 
and  consulted ;  but  either  their  health  or  their  affairs  were 
in  such  disorder,  that  they  most  earnestly  desired  to  be 
excused.  Upon  which  the  king  said  merrily  to  some  of 
his  ministers,  alluding  to  the  dress  and  appearance  of  these 
gentlemen,  "  Well  then,  I  find  we  must  spare  our  Beaus, 
and  send  honest  Benbow"  His  Majesty  accordingly  sent 
for  him  upon  this  occasion,  and  asked  him  whether  he  was 
willing  to  go  to  the  West  Indies,  assuring  him,  that  if  he 
was  not,  he  would  not  take  it  at  all  amiss  if  he  desired  to  be 
excused.  Mr.  Benbow  answered  bluntly,  that  he  did  not  un- 
derstand such  compliments,  that  he  thought  he  had  no  right 
to  chuse  his  station,  and  that  if  his  majesty  thought  fit  to  send 
him  to  the  East  or  West  Indies,  or  any  where  else,  he  would 
cheerfully  execute  his  orders  as  became  him.  To  conceal, 
however,  the  design  of  this  squadron,  and  its  force,  sir 
George  Rooke,  then  admiral  of  the  fleet,  had  orders  to 
convoy  it  as  far  as  the  Isles  of  Scilly,  and  to  send  a  strong 
squadron  with  it  thence,  to  see  it  well  into  the  sea,  aH  which 
he  punctually  performed.  It  is  certain  that  king  William 
formed  great  hopes  of  this  expedition,  knowing  well  that 
Mr.  Benbow  would  execute,  with  the  greatest  spirit  and 
punctuality,  the  instructions  he  had  received,  which  were, 
to  engage  the  Spanish  governors,  if  possible,,  to  disown 
king  Philip,  or  in  case  that  could  not  be  brought  about,  to 
make  himself  master  of  the  galleons.  In  this  design  it  is 
plain  that  the  admiral  would  have  succeeded,  notwith- 
standing the  smallness  of  his  force;  and  it  is  no  less  cer- 
tain, that  the  anxiety  the  vice-admiral  was  under  about 
the  execution  of  his  orders,  was  the  principal  reason  for 
his  maintaining  so  strict  a  discipline,  which  proved  un- 
luckily the  occasion  of  his  coming  to  an  untimely  end. 
The  French,  who  had  the  same  reasons  that  we  had  to  be 
very  attentive  to  what  passed  in  the  West  Indies,  prose- 
cuted their  designs  with  great  wisdom  and  circumspection, 
sending  a  force  much  superior  to  ours,  which,  however, 
would  have  availed  them  little,  if  admiral  Benbow's  of- 
ficers had  done  their  duty.  His  squadron,  consisting  of 
two  third  and  eight  fourth  rates,  arrived  at  Barbadoes  oa 


B  E  N  B  O  W.  423 

the  3d  of  November,  1701,  from  whence  he  sailed  to 
the  Leeward  Islands,  in  order  to  examine  the  state  of  (he 
French  colonies  and  our  own.  He  found  the  former  in 
some  confusion,  and  the  latter  in  so  good  a  situation,  that 
he  thought  he  ran  no  hazard  in  leaving  them  to  go  to  Ja- 
maica, where,  when  he  arrived,  his  fleet  was  in  so  good  a 
condition,  the  admiral,  officers,  and  seamen  being  most  of 
them  used  to  the  climate,  that  be  had  not  occasion  to  send 
above  ten  men  to  the  hospital,  which  was  looked  upon  as  a 
very  extraordinary  thing.  There  he  received  advice  of  two 
French  squadrons  being  arrived  in  the  West  Indies,  which 
alarmed  the  inhabitants  of  that  island  and  of  Barbadoes  very 
much.  After  taking  care,  as  far  as  his  strength  would  per- 
mit, of  both  places,  he  formed  a  design  of  attacking  Petit 
Guavas ;  but  before  he  could  execute  it,  he  had  intelli- 
gence that  Monsieur  du  Casse  was  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Htspaniola,*with  a  squadrou  of  French  ships,  in  order  to 
settle  the  Assiento  in  favour  of  the  French,  and  to  destroy 
the  English  and  Dutch  trade  for  negroes.  Upon  this  he 
detached  rear-admiral  Whetstone  in  pursuit  of  him,  and  on 
the  11th  of  July,  1702,  he  sailed  from  Jamaica,  in  order  to 
have  joined  the  rear-admiral ;  but  having  intelligence  that 
du  Casse  was  expected  at  Leogane,  on  the  north  side  of  His- 
paniola,  he  plied  for  that  port,  before  which  he  arrived  on 
the  27th.  Not  far  from  the  town  he  perceived  several 
ships  at  anchor,  and  one  under  sail,  who  sent  out  her  boat 
to  discover  his  strength,  which  coming  too  near  was  taken ; 
from  the  crew  of  which  they  learned  that  there  were  six 
merchant  ships  in  the  port,  and  that  the  ship  they  belonged 
to  was  a  man  of  war  of  fifty  guns,  which  the  admiral  pressed 
so  hard,  that  the  captain  seeing  no  probability  of  escaping, 
ran  the  ship  on  shore  and  blew  her  up.  On  the  28th  the 
admiral  came  before  the  town,  where  he  found  a  ship  of 
about  eighteen  guns  hauled  under  the  fortifications,  which, 
however,  did  not  hinder  his  burning  her.  The  rest  of  the 
ships  had  sailed  before  day,  in  order  to  get  into  a .  better 
harbour,  viz.  Cul  de  Sac.  But  some  of  our  ships  between 
them  and  that  port,  took  three  of  them,  and  sunk  a  fourth. 
The  admiral,  after  alarming  Petit  Guavas,  which  he  found 
it  impossible  to  attack,  sailed  for  Donna  Maria  Bay,  where 
he  continued  till  the  10th  of  August,  when,  having  received 
advice  that  Monsieur  du  Casse  was  sailed  for  Carthagena, 
and  from  thence  was  to  sail  to  Porto  Beilo,  he  resolved  to 
follow  him,  and  accordingly  sailed  that  day  for  the  Spanish 


424  BENBO.W, 

coast  of  Santa  Martha.    On  the  1 9th  of  August,  in  the  mf» 
ternoon,  he  discovered  ten  sail  near  that  place,  steering 
westward  along  the  shore,  under  their  topsails,  four  of  them 
from  sixty  to  seventy  guns,  one  a  great  Dutch-built  ship  of 
about  thirty  or  forty,  another  full  of  soldiers,  three  small 
vessels,  and  a  sloop.     The  vice-admiral  coming  up  with 
them,  about  four  the  engagement  began.     He  had  disposed 
his  line  of  battle  in  the  following  manner :  viz.  the  Defi- 
ance, Pendennis,  Windsor,  Breda,  Greenwich,  Ruby,  and 
Falmouth.     But  two   of  these   ships,   the  Defiance  and 
Windsor,  did  not  stand  above  two  or  three  broadsides  be- 
fore they  loofed  out  of  gun-shot,  so  that  the  two  sternmost 
ships  of  the  enemy  lay  on  the  admiral,  and  galled  him  very 
much ;  nor  did  the  ships  in  the  rear  come  up  to.  his  assist- 
ance with  the  diligence  they  ought  to  have  done.     The 
fight,  however,  lasted  till  dark,  and  though  the  firing  then 
ceased,    the  vice-admiral  kept  them  company  all  night. 
The  next  morning,  at  break  of  day,  he  was  near  the  French 
ships,  but  none  of  his  squadron  except  the  Ruby  was  with 
him,  the  rest  being  three,  four,  or  five  miles  a-stern.     Not- 
withstanding this,   the  Frenoh  did  not  fire  a  gun  at  the 
vice-admiral,  though  he  was  within  their  reach.     At  two  in 
the  afternoon  the  French  drew  into  a  line,  though  at  the 
same  time  they  made  what  sail  they  could  without  fighting. 
However,  the  vice-admiral  and  the  Ruby  kept  them  com- 
pany all  night,  plying  their  chase-guns.     Thus  the  vice- 
admiral  continued  pursuing,  and  at  some  times  skirmishing 
with  the  enemy,  for  four  days  more,  but  was  never  duly 
seconded  by  several  of  the  ships  of  his  squadron.     The 
523d,  about  noon,  the  admiral  took  from  them  a  small  Eng- 
lish ship,  called  the  Anne  Galley,  which  they  had  taken  off 
Lisbon,  and  the  Ruby  being  disabled,  he  ordered  her  to 
Port  Royal.     About  eight  at  night  the  whole  squadron  was 
up  with  the  vice-admiral,  and  the  enemy  not  two  miles  off. 
There  was  now  a  prospect  of  doing  something,  and  the 
vice-admiral  made  the  best  of  his  way  after  them,  but  his 
whole  squadron,  except  the  Falmouth,  fell  astern  again. 
At  two  in  the  morning,  the  24th,  the  vice-admiral  came  up 
with  the  enemy's  sternmost  ship,  and  fired  his  broadside, 
which  was  returned  by  the  French  ship  very  briskly,  and 
about  three  the  vice-admiral's  right  leg  was  broken  to 
pieces  by  a  chain-shot.     In  this  condition  he  was  carried 
down  to  be  dressed,  and  while  the  surgeon  was  at  work,  one 
of  his  lieutenants  expressed  great  sorrow  for  the  loss  of 


B  E  N  B  O  W.  4M 

bis  leg,  upon  which  the  admiral  said  to  him,  "  I  am  sorry 
for  it  too,  but  I  had  rather  have  lost  them  both,  than  have 
seen   this  dishonour  brought,  upon   the   English   nation. 
But,  do  ye  hear,  if  another  shot  should  take  me  off,  behave 
like  brave  men,  and  fight  it  out."     As  soon  as  it  was  prac- 
ticable, he  .caused  himself  to  be  carried  up,  and  placed, 
with  bis  cradle,  upon  the  quarter-deck,  and  continued  the 
fight  till  day.     They  then  discovered  the  ruins  of  one  of 
the  enemy's  ships,  that  carried  seventy  guns,  her  main-yard 
down  and  shot  to  pieces,  her  fore  top-sail  yard  shot  away, 
her  mizen-mast  shot  by  the  board,  all  her  rigging  gone, 
and  her  sides  tore  to  pieces.     The  admiral,  soon  after,  dis- 
covered the  enemy  standing  towards  him  with  a  strong  gale 
of  wind.     The  Windsor,   Pendennis,  and  Greenwich,  a- 
jiead  of  the  enemy,  came  to  the  leeward  of  the  disabled 
ship,  fired  their  broadsides,  passed  her,  and  stood  to  the 
southward.    Then  came  the  Defiance,  fired  part  of  her 
broadside,  when  the  disabled  ship  returning  about  twenty 
guns,  the  Defiance  put  her  helm  a-weather,  and  run  away 
right  before  the  wind,  lowered  both  her  top-sails,  and  ran 
in  to  the  leeward  of  the  Falmouth,  without  any  regard  to 
the  signal  of  battle.     The  enemy  seeing  the  other  two 
ships  stand  to  the  southward,  expected  they  would*  have 
tacked  and  stood  towards  them,  and  therefore  they  brought 
their  heads  to  the  northward ;   but  when  they  saw  those 
ships  did  not  tack,  they  immediately  bore  down  upon  the 
admiral,  and  ran  between  their  disabled  ship  and  him,  and 
poured  in  all  their  shot,  by  which  they  brought  down  his 
main  top-sail  yard,  and  shattered  his  rigging  very  much, 
none  of  the  other  ships  being  near  him  or  taking  the  least 
notice  of  his  signals,   though  captain  Fogg  ordered  two 
guns  to  be  fired  at  the  ship's  bead,  in  order  to  put  them  in 
mind  of  their  duty.     The  French,  seeing  things  in  this 
condition,  brought  to,  and  lay  by  their  own  disabled  ship, 
remanned,  and  took  her  into  tow.    The  Breda's  rigging 
being  much  shattered,   she  was  forced  to  lie  by  till  ten 
o'clock,  and  being  then  refitted,  the  admiral  ordered  the 
captain  to  pursue  the  enemy,  then  about  three  miles  to  the 
leeward,  his  line  of  battle  signal  put  all  the  while ;  and 
captain  Fogg,  by  the  admiral's  orders,  sent  to  the  other 
captains,  to  order  them  to  keep  the  line  and  behave  like 
men.     Upon  this  captain  Kirkby  came  on  board  the  admi- 
ral, and  told  him,  "  He  had  better  desist,  that  the  French 
were  very  strong,  and  that  from  what  had  passed  he  might 


42$  BENBOW. 

guess  be  could  make  nothing  of  it."     The  brave  admiral 
Benbow,  more  surprised  at  this  language  than  at  all  that 
bad  hitherto  happened,  said  very  calmly,  that  this  was  but 
one  man's  opinion,  and  therefore  made  a  signal  for  the  rest 
of  the  captains  to  come  on  board,  which  they  did  in  obe- 
dience to  his  orders ;   but  when  they  came,  they  fell  too 
easily  into  captain  Kirkby's  sentiments,  and,  in  conjunction 
with  him,  signed  a  paper,  importing,  that,  as  he  had  before 
told  the  admiral,  there  was  nothing  more  to  be  done ;  though 
at  this  very  time  they  had  the  fairest  opportunity  imagin- 
able of  taking  or  destroying  the  enemy's  whole  squadron ; 
for  ours  consisted  then  of  one  ship  of  seventy  guns,  one  of 
sixty -four,  one  of  sixty,   and  three  of  fifty,   their  yards, 
masts,  and  in  general  all  their  tackle,  in  as  good  condition 
as  could  be  expected,  the  admiral's  own  ship  excepted,  in 
which  their  loss  was  considerable ;  but  in  the  rest  they  had 
eight  only  killed  and  wounded,  nor  were  they  in  any  want 
of  ammunition  necessary  to  continue  the  fight.     The  ene* 
my,  on  the  other  hand,  had  but  four  ships  of  between  sixty 
and  seventy  guns,  one  of  which  was  entirely  disabled  and  in 
tow,  and  all  the  rest  very  roughly  handled ;   so  that  even 
bow,  if  .these  officers  had  done  their  duty,  it  is  morally  cer- 
tain they  might  have  taken  them  all.     But  vice-admiral 
Benbow,   seeing  himself  absolutely  without  support    (his 
own  captain  having  signed  the  paper  before  mentioned) 
determined  to  give  over  the  fight,  and  to  return  to  Jamaica, 
though  be  could  not  help  declaring  openly,   that  it  was 
against  his  own  sentiments,  in  prejudice  to  the  public  ser- 
vice, and  the  greatest  dishonour  that  had  ever  befallen  the 
English  navy.     The  French,  glad  of  their  escape,  continued 
their  course  towards  the  Spanish  coasts,  and  the  English 
squadron  soon  arrived  safe  in  Port-Royal  harbour,  where, 
as  soon  as  the  vice-admiral  came  on  shore,  he  ordered  the 
officers  who  had  so  scandalously  misbehaved,  to  be  brought 
out  of  their  ships  and  confined*  and  immediately  after  di- 
rected a  commission  to  rear-admiral  Whetstone  to  hold  a 
court-martial  for  their  trial,  which  was  accordingly  done, 
and  upon  the  fullest  and  clearest  evidence  that  could  be 
desired,  some  of  the  most  guilty  were  condemned,  and  suf- 
fered death  according  to  their  deserts.     Although  now  so 
far  recovered  from  the  fever  induced  by  his  broken  leg, 
as  to  be  able  to  attend  the  trials  of  the  captains  who  desert- 
ed him,  and  thereby  vindicate  his  own  honour,  and  that  of 
the  nation,  yet  he  still  continued  in  a  declining  way,  oc* 


B&NBOW.  *2» 

» 

oasioned  partly  by  the  heat  of  the  climate,  but  chiefly  from 
that  grief  which  this  miscarriage  occasioned,  as  appeared 
by  his  letters  to  his  lady,  in  which  he  expressed  much  more 
concern  for  the  condition  in  which  he  was  like  to  leave  the 
public  affairs  in  the~  West  Indies,  than  for  his  own.  Du- 
ring all  the  time  of  his  illness,  he  behaved  with  great  calm-* 
ness  and  presence  of  mind,  having  never  flattered  himself, 
from  the  time  his  leg  was  cut  off,  with  any  hopes  of  reco- 
very, but  shewed  an  earnest  desire  to  be  as  useful  as  he 
could  while  he  was  yet  living,  giving  the  necessary  direc- 
tions for  stationing  the  ships  of  his  squadron,  for  protect- 
ing commerce,  and  incommoding  the  enemy,  fie  continued 
thus  doing  his  duty  to  the  last  moment  of  his  life.  His 
spirits  did  not  fail  him  until  very  near  his  end,  and  be  pre- 
served his  senses  to  the  day  he  expired,  Nov.  4,  1702.  He 
left  several  sons  and  daughters ;  but  his  sons  dying  without 
issue,  his  two  surviving  daughters  became  coheiresses,  and 
the  eldest  married  Paul  Calton,  esq.  of  Milton  near  Abing- 
ton  in  Berkshire,  who  contributed  much  of  the  admiral's 
memoirs  to  the  Biographia  Britannica.  One  of  his  sons, 
John,  was  brought  up  to  the  sea,  but  in  the  year  his  father 
died  was  shipwrecked  on  the  coast  of  Madagascar,  where, 
after  many  dangerous  adventures,  he  was  reduced  to  live 
with,  and  in  manner  of  the  natives,  for  many  years,  and  at 
last,  when  he  least  expected  it,  he  was  taken  on  board  by  a 
Dutch  captain,  out  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  his  father, 
and  brought  safe  to  England,  when  his  relations  thought 
him  long  since  dead.  He  was  a  young  gentleman  naturally 
of  a  very  brisk  and  lively  temper,  but  by  a  long  series  of 
untoward  events,  his  disposition  was  so  far  altered  that  he 
appeared  very  serious  or  melancholy,  and  did  not  much  af- 
fect speaking,  except  amongst  a  few  intimate  friends.  But 
the  noise  of  his  remaining  so  long,  and  in  such  a  condition, 
upon  the  island  of  Madagascar,  induced  many  to  visit  him; 
for  though  naturally  taciturn,  he  was  very  communicative 
on  that  subject,  although  very  few  particulars  relating  to  it 
can  now  be  recovered.  It  was  supposed  by  Dr.  Campbell, 
in  his  life  of  the  admiral,  that  some  ihformation  might  have 
been  derived  from  a  large  work  which  Mr.  John  Benbow 
composed  on  the  history  of  Madagascar,  but  it  appears  from 
a  letter  in  the  Gent.  Mag.  vol.  XXXIX.  p.  172,  that  this 
was  little  more  than  a  seaman's  journal,  the  loss  of  which 
may  perhaps  be  supplied  by  Drury's  description  of  Mada- 
gascar, one  of  the  fellow-sufferers  with  Mr.  Benbowa  Qf 


428  B  E  N  B  O  W. 

which  work  a  new  edition,  was  published  a  few  years  ago, 
Mr.  Benbow's  MS.  was  accidentally  burnt  by  a  fire  which 
took  place  in  the  house,  or  lodgings,  of  his  brother  William, 
a  clerk  in  the  Navy  office,  who  died  in  1729.  The  whole 
family  is  now  believed  to  be  extinct,  and  a  great  part  of  the 
admiral's  fortune  is  said  to  remain  in  the  bank  of  England, 
in  the  'name  of  trustees,  among  the  unclaimed  dividends, 
One  William  Briscoe,  a  hatter,  and  a  member  of  the  corpo* 
ration  of  Shrewsbury,  who  was  living  in  1748,  was  supposed 
to  be  his  representative,  but  was  unable  to  substantiate  his 
pretensions, l 

BENCI,  or  BENCIO  (Francis),  an  Italian  orator  and 
poet,  was  born  at  Aquapendente  in  1542,  and  received  his 
early  education  from  his  father.  He  was  then  sent  to  Rome, 
and  in  1563  began  to  attend  the  Jesuits'  college  for  the 
study  of  philosophy  and  jurisprudence,  which  he  pursued 
for  six  years.  His  master  was  the  celebrated  Muretus,  but 
for  some  time,  as  his  biographer  informs  us,  the  love  of  the 
world  predominated,  notwithstanding  the  voice  of  con- 
science, to  which,  hQwever,  at  length  he  listened,  and,  in 
1570,  entered  into  the  society  of  the  Jesuits,  going  through 
the  regular  probations.  He  now  changed  his  name,  which 
was  Plautus,  to  that  of  Francis,  a  practice  usual  among  the 
religious  of  that  order.  Yet  still  his  new  engagements  did 
not  interrupt  his  favourite  studies,  which  led  him  to  high 
reputation  as  an  orator  and  poet.  For  many  years  likewise 
he  taught  rhetoric  at  Sienna,  Perugia,  aqd  Rome,  and  was 
regarded  by  his  learned  contemporaries,  as  another  Mu-. 
retus.  Flattered,  however,  as  he  might  have  been  by  these 
lavish  praises,  and  encouraged  to  hope  for  preferment  ade- 
quate to  such  acknowledgments  of  his  merit,  he  is  said  to 
have  been  a  man  of  great  modesty,  and  entirely  free  from 
ambition.  Muretus  had  admitted  him  to  the  closest  inti- 
macy, and  Benci  no  further  presumed  on  his  friendship 
than  to  request  he  would  introduce  more  of  the  Christian  in 
his  life  and  writings  than  had  yet  been  visible,  Muretus 
acknowledges  this  very  handsomely  in  the  dedication  to 
Benci,  of  his  Latin  translation  of  Aristotle's  rhetoric.  Benci 
died  in  the  Jesuits'  college  at  Rome,  May  6,  1594.  An 
edition  of  his  works  was  published  at  Lyons  in  1603,  but 
most  of  them  had  been  separately  and  very  often  printed. 

*  Biog.  Brit— Gent.  Mag.  vol.  XXX IX.— Some  account  of  the  ancient  and 
present  state  of  Shrewsbury,  l2mo,  18KW-A  view  of  the  house  in  which  he  *af 
born,  fcc.  Gent.  Mag.  LXXIX.  p\  1097. 


B  E  N  C  I.  420 

They  consist  of  orations,   Latin  dramas  and  poems,  and 
some  religious  treatises,  enumerated  by  Moreri. l 

BENCIVENNI  (Joseph),  an  Italian  writer,  was  born  in 
1728,  the  last  branch  of  a  noble  and  ancient  family  in  Tus- 
cany. He  rendered  himself  eminent  in  the  literary  and 
political  world,  and  filled  some  situations  of  importance ; 
and  among  others,  more  connected  with  his  favourite  pur- 
suits, he  was  director  of  the  once  magnificent  gallery  of 
Florence,  of  which  he  wrote  "  Saggio  Historico,"  &c. 
u  An  historical  essay  concerning  the  Gallery,"  vol.  I.  and 
II.  1779,  8vo,  and  which,  we  believe,  was  continued  in  more 
volumes,  but  we  find  these  only  noticed  in  the  Monthly  Re- 
view, vol.  LX1I.  He  wrote  also  the  eloges  of  many  emi- 
nent characters,  a  "  life  of  Dante,"  which  is  much  esteemed, 
some  "  academical  dissertations,"  and  other  works  without 
his  name.  He  died  July  31,  1808.  His  mind  was  a  library 
open  to  all  his  friends,  and  his  heart  a  hospitable  asylum  for 
the  unhappy.  He  was  learned  without  pedantry,  pious 
without  superstition,  benevolent  without  ostentation,  the 
friend  of  virtue  wherever  he  found  it,  and  his  death,  it  is 
added,  was  as  placid  and  calm  as  his  life  had  been.  * 

BENCIUS,  or  DE  BENCIIS  (Hugo),  was  a  native  of 
Sienna,  which  circumstance  has  procured  him  to  be  record- 
ed in  some  biographical  works  under  the  name  of  Hugo 
Senensis,  and  Freher,  otherwise  a  correct  biographer,  has 
given  these  as  distinct  persons.  He  became  one  of  the 
most  celebrated  physicians  of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  not 
less  esteemed  as  a  philosopher  and  divine.  In  such  admi- 
ration was  he  held,  that  his  contemporaries  hailed  him  as 
another  Aristotle  and  a  new  Hippocrates;  and  such  was  his 
memory,  that  he  could  readily  and  promptly  give  answers 
to  any  questions  or  doubts  that  were  propounded  from  the 
works  of  Plato  or  Aristotle.  He  was,  according  to  Ghilini, 
professor,  of  medicine  at  Ferrara,  and  was  a  member  of  the 
council  called  to  adjust  the  religious  disputes  between  the 
Greeks  and  Latins.  Castellanus  informs  us,  that  when  Ni- 
cholas of  Este  founded  the  university  of  Parma,  Bencius 
was  appointed  one  of  its  first  professors,  and  this  Bencius 
himself  confirms  in  the  introduction  to  his  commentary  on 
Galen.  He  died  at  Rome  in  1438,  according  to  Castella- 
nus,  or  in  1448,  according  to  Ghilini.  His' principal  works 
are,  1.  "  In  aphorismos  Hippocratis,"  &c.  expositio,"  Ve» 
•        ••  • 

l  Moreri.  •  Diet.  Hist. 


430  B  E  N  C  I  U  S. 

nice,  1498,  folio,  Teprinted  1517,  1523.  2.  "  Consilia  aa- 
luberrima  ad  omnes  iEgritudines,"  Venice,  1518,  folio* 
3.  "  In  tres  libros  Mierotechni  Galeni  luculentissimi  expo- 
sitio,"  ibid.  1523,  fol.  4.  "  In  primi  canonis  Avicennae 
Fen  primam  expositio,"  ibid.  1523,  fol.  5.  "  Supra  quarta 
Fen  primi  Avicennae  expositio,"  ib.  1717.  6.  "  In  quarti 
canonis  Avicennae  Fen  primam  expositio,"  ibid.  1523. 
There  is  an  edition  of  his  works,  Venice,  2  vols,  folio,  1518, 
but  whether  it  includes  the  above  is  not  mentioned  in  our 
authorities. l 

BENDER  (Blaise  Colomban,  Baron  de)  a  field-mar- 
shal in  the  Austrian  service,  was  born  in  the  Brisgaw,  1713, 
and  entered  very  young  into  the  Austrian  service.  He  was 
engaged  in  the  war  of  1741,  and  in  the  seven  years  war 
against  the  Prussians,  and  distinguished  himself  in  various 
engagements,  in  which  he  received  several  wounds.  He 
had  attained  the  rank  of  captain,  when  he  married  a  count- 
ess of  the  house  of  Isembourg,  by  the  influence  of  which 
alliance  he  attained  successively  the  rank  of  major,  colonel, 
and  major-general,  and  had  the  command  of  the  Brisgaw. 
Having  been  appointed  lieutenant-general,  the  government 
of  the  important  fortress  of  Luxemburgh  was  intrusted  to 
him.  On  the  commencement  of  the  insurrection  in  1789, 
he  was -commander-in-chief  in  the  Netherlands,  and  direct- 
ed the  principal  part  of  the  operations,  notwithstanding  his 
great  age.  In  1790  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  field- 
marshal,  and  obtained  the  grand  cross  of  Maria  Teresa.  In 
1792  his  infirmities  did  not  permit  him  to  take  an  active 
part  in  the  war  against  France,  and  he  remained  at  Luxem- 
burgh, when  blockaded  -by  the  French  in  1794.  There  he 
defended  himself  bravely  for  eight  months,  but  in  spite  of 
his  reiterated  demands,  this  fortress  had  b$en  left  unsup- 
ported with  provisions,  and  was  forced  to  surrender,  June 
1,  1794,  when  the  garrison,  however,  obtained  an  honour- 
able capitulation,  and  were  sent  back  to  Germany,  on  con- 
dition that  they  should  not  bear  arms  for  a  year.  M.  de 
Bender  was  then  appointed  governor- general  of  Bohemia, 
and  having  retired  to  Prague,  died  there  November  20, 
1798.2 

BENDLOWES,  or  BENLOWES  (Edward),  a  poet 
of  considerable  note  in  his  day,  was  son  and  heir  of  Andrew 
Bendlowes,  esq.  and  born  in  1613.  At  sixteen  years  o£ 
age  he  was  admitted  a  fellow-commoner  of  St.  John's  col- 

1  Diet.  Hist. — Freheri  Theatrum. — Mangst,— Haller. 
*  Biographie  Moderne.— Diet.  Hist, 


B  E  N  D  L  O  W  E  S.  451 

lege  in  Cambridge,  to  which  he  was  afterwards  a  benefac- 
tor; and  as  such  his  portrait  is  hung  up  in  the  master's 
lodge.  From  Cambridge  he  travelled  through  several 
countries,  and  visited  seven  courts  of  princes,  and  returned 
home  a  most  accomplished  gentleman  both  in  behaviour 
and  conversation,  but  a  little  tinctured  with  the  principles 
of  popery*  Being  very  imprudent  in  the  management  of 
his  worldly  concerns,  he  made  a  shift  (though  be  was  never 
married)  to  squander  away  his  estate,  which  amounted  to 
seven  hundred  or  a  thousand  pounds  a  year,  on  poets,  mu- 
sicians, buffoons,  and  flatterers,  and  in  buying  curiosities. 
He  gave  a  handsome  fortune  with  a  niece  named  Philippa, 
who  was  married  to Blount,  of  Maple-Durham  in  Ox- 
fordshire, esq. ;  but  being  security  for  the  debts  of  some 
persons,  which  he  was  not  able  to  discharge,  he  was  put 
into  prison  at  Oxford,  and  upon  his  release  spent  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life,  which  was  eight  years,  in  that  city. 
He  was  esteemed  in  his  younger  days  a  great  patron  of  the 
poets,  especially  Quarles,  Davenant,  Payne,  Fisher,  &c. 
who  either  dedicated  books  to  him,  or  wrote  epigrams  and 
poems  on  him.  His  flatterers-  used  to  style  him  "  Benevo- 
lus,"  by  way  of  anagram  on  his  name,  in  return  for  his  ge- 
nerosity towards  them.  About  the  latter  end  of  his  life, 
he  was  drawn  off  from  his  inclination  to  popery,  and  would 
often  take  occasion  to  dispute  against  the  Papists  and  their 
opinions,  and  particularly  disliked  the  favourers  of  Arminius 
and  Socinus.  This  gentleman,  reduced,  through  his  own 
indiscretion,  to  great  want,  died  at -Oxford,  Dec.  18,  1686, 
and  was  buried  in  the  north  aile  of  St  Mary's  church,  the 
expences  of  his  funeral  being  defrayed  by  a  contribution  of 
several  scholars  who  respected  him.  His  picture  is  in  the 
Bodleian  gallery. 

Among  his  poetical  pieces  Wood  mentions  the  following, 
1.  "  Sphinx  Theologica,  seu  Musica  Templi,  ubi  discordia 
concors,"  Camb.  1626,  8vo.  2.  "  Honor ifica  armorum 
cessatio,  sive  pacis  et  fidei  associatio,"  Feb.  11,  1643,  8vo. 
3.  "  Theophila,  or  Love- Sacrifice,"  a  diyine  poem,  Lond. 

.  1652,  folio,  with  the  author's  picture  before  it  Several 
parts  of  this  poem  were  set  to  music  by  Mr.  John  Jenkyns, 
an  eminent  musician  whom  Mr.  Bendlowes  patronized  ;  and 
a  whole  canto  of  it,  consisting  of  above  three  hundred 
verses,  was  turned  into  elegant  Latin  verse,  in  the  space  of 
one  day,  by  Mr.  John  Hall  of  Durham.     4.  "  A  summary 

-of  Divine  Wisdom,'*  London,  1657,  4to.     5.  "  A  glance  at 
the  glories  of  Sacred  Friendship,"  London,  1657,  printed 


4SS  BENDLOWES. 

on  one  side  of  a  lafrge  sheet  of  paper.  6.  "  D£  Sacra  Ami- 
citia,"  printed  with  the  former  in  Latin  verse  and  prose. 
7.  "  Threnothriambeuticon,  or  Latin  poems  on  king  Charles* 
II.'s  Restoration,"  London,  1660,  printed  on  a  side  of  a 
large  sheet  of  paper.  A  few  were  printed  on  white  satin, 
one  copy  of  which,  in  a  frame  suitable  to  it,  he  gave  to  th* 
public  library  at  Oxford.  8.  "  Oxonii  Encomium/9  Oxon. 
1672,  in  four  sheets  folio,  mostly  in  Latin  verse.  9.  €(  Ox- 
onii Elogia,"  Oxon.  1673,  printed  on  one  side  of  a  large 
sheet  of  paper ;  it  consists  of  twelve  stanzas,  and  is  fol- 
lowed by  I.  "  Oxonii  Elegia ;"  II.  u  Academicis  Sereni- 
tas ;"  III.  "  Academicis  Temperantia  ;"  IV.  "  Studiosis 
Cautela,"  and  some  other  pieces.  10.  "  Magia  Caelestis," 
Oxon.  1673,  a  Latin  poem,  printed  on  one  side  of  a  large 
sheet  of  paper.  The  three  last-mentioned  pieces  were 
composed  at  Oxford.  11.  u  Echo  veridica  joco-seri#a,,f 
Oxon.  1673,  printed  on  one  side  of  a  large  sheet  of  paper, 
a  Latin  poem,  chiefly  against  the  pope,  the  Papists,  Jesu- 
its, &c.  12.  "  Truth's  touch-stone,"  consisting  of  an  hun- 
dred distichs,  printed  on  one  side  of  a  long  sheet  of  paper, 
and  dedicated  to  his  niece  Mrs.  Philippa  Blount.  13.  "  An- 
notations for  the  better  confirming  the  several  truths  in  the 
said  poem;"  uncertain  when  printed.  14.  Mr.  Bendlowes 
wrote  a  "  Mantissa"  to  Richard  Fenn's  u  Panegyricon  In- 
augurate," entitled,  "  De  celeberrima  et  florentiss.  Trino- 
bantiados  Augustx  Civ.  Praetori,  reg.  senatui  populoque," 
Lond.  1673,  4to;  in  the  title  of  which  piece  he  styles  him- 
self "  Turmee  Equestrisin  Com.  Essex.  Praefectus."  These 
writings,  according  to  Wood,  acquired  Mr.  Bendlowes  the 
name  of  a  Divine  Author,  but  we  fear  the  value  of  that  cha- 
racter is  considerably  sunk ;  although  we  cannot  agree  with 
Pope,  that  "  Bendlowes,  propitious  to  blockheads,  bows," 
nor  with  his  commentator  Warburton,  that  *c  Bendlowes 
was  famous  for  his  own  bad  poetry,,  and  for  patronising  bad 
poets."  In  his  a  Theophila"  there  are  many  uncommon 
and  excellent  thoughts,  but  it  must  be  allowed  that  his  me- 
taphors are  often  strained  and  far-fetched,  and  he  some- 
times loses  himself  in  mystic  divinity.  Granger,  who 
thinks  his  Latin  verses  better  than  his  English,  quotes  a 
passage  from  his  prayer  in  "  Theophila,"  which  has  been, 
deservedly  admired  for  piety  and  sense.  * 
BENEDETTO.     See  CASTIGLIONE. 

»  B'wg.  Brit.— Wood's  Fasti,  vol.  IL— Granger.— Bowlcs'i  Pope's  Works,  vol, 
V.  p.  206. 


BENEDICT.  433 

BENEDICT  (St.),  the  founder  of  the  order  of  the  Be- 
,nedictin  monks,  was  a  native  of  Norcia,  formerly  an  epis- 
copal see  in  Umbria,  and  was  born  about  the  year  480.     He 
was  sent  to  Rome  when  he  was  very  young,  and  there  re- 
ceived the  first  part  of  his  education.     At  fourteen  years 
of  age  he  was  removed  from  thence  to  Sublaco,  about  forty 
miles  distant.     Here  he  lived  a  most  retired  life,  and  shut 
himself  up  in  a  cavern,  where  nobody  knew  any  thing  of 
him  except  St.  Romanus,  who,  we  are  told,  used  to  descend 
to  him  by  a  rope,  and  supply  him  with  provisions ;  but 
being  afterwards  discovered  by  the  monks  of  a  neighbouring 
monastery,  they  chose  him  for  their  abbot.    Their  maoners, 
however,  not  agreeing  with  those  of  Benedict,  he  returned  to 
his  solitude,  whither  many  persons  followed  him,  and  put  ~ 
themselves  under  his  direction,  and  in  a  short  time  he  was 
enabled  to  build  twelve  monasteries.     About  the  year  523, 
he  retired  to  Mount  Cassino,  where  idolatry  was  still  preva- 
lent, a  temple  of  Apollo  being  erected  there.     He  instruct* 
ed  the  people  in  the  adjacent  country,  and  having  converted 
them,  broke  the  image  of  Apollo,  and  built  two  chapels  on 
the  mountain.     Here  he  founded  also  a  monastery,  and  in* 
stituted  the  order  of  his  name,  which  in  time  became  so 
famous,  and  extended  over  all  Europe.     It  was  here  too 
that  he  composed  his  "  Regula  Monachorum,"  which  Gre- 
gory the  Great  speaks  of  as  the  most  sensible  and .  best 
written  piece  of  that  kind  ever  published.     Authors  are  not 
agreed  as  to  the  place  where  Benedict  died ;  some  say  at 
Mount  Cassino,  others  affirm  it  to  have  been  at  Rome, 
when  he  was  sent  thither  by  pope  Boniface.     Nor  is  the 
year  ascertained,  some  asserting  it  to  have  been  in  542  or 
543,  and  others  in  547,  but  the  calendar  fixes  the  day  on 
Saturday,  March  25.     St.  Gregory  the  Great  has  written 
his  life  in  the  second  book  of  his  Dialogues,  where  he  has 
given  a  long  detail  of  his  pretended  miracles.     Du  Pin 
says,  that  the  "  Regula  Monachorum"  is  the  only  genuine 
work  of  St.  Benedict.    There  have  been  several  editions 
of  these  rules*     Several  other  tracts  are,  however,  ascribed 
to  him,  as  particularly  a  letter  to  St.  Maurus;   a  sermon 
upon  the  decease  of  St  Maurus ;  a  sermon  upon  the  passion 
of  St.  Placidus  and  his  companions ;  and  a  discourse  "  De 
ordine  monasterii." 1 

1  Geo.  Diet.— Mosheim's  E«cl.  Hist. — Dupin.— Cave,  vol.  I.— Butter's  Lives 
ef  the  Saints. 

Vol.  IV.  Fp 


IS*  BENEDICT. 

BENEDICT,  abbot  of  Peterborough  in  the  twelfth 
century,  was  educated  at  Oxford,  became  a  monk  in  the 
monastery  of  Christ's  church,  Canterbury,  and  some  time 
after  was  chosen  prior  by  the  members  of  that  society. 
Though  he  had  been  a  great  admirer  of  archbishop  Becket* 
and  wrote  a  Kfe  of  that  prelate,  he  was  so  much  esteemed 
by  Henry  IL  that  by  the  influence  of  that  prince  he  was 
elected  abbot  of  Peterborough,  in  1177.  He  assisted  at 
the  coronation  of  Richard  I.  1189,  and  was  advanced  to 
be  keeper  of  the  great  seal  in  1191,  but  he  did  not  long 
enjoy  this  high  dignity,  as  he  died  on  Michaelmas  day, 
J 193.  He  composed  a  history  of  Henry  II.  and  Richard  I. 
from  1170  to  1192,  which  has  been  esteemed  by  many  of 
our  antiquaries,  as  containing  one  of  the  best  accounts  of 
the  transactions  of  those  times.  A  beautiful  edition  of  this 
work  was  published  at  Oxford  by  Hearne,  1735,  2  vols.  8vo*. 
With  respect  to  his  life  of  Becket,  Bale  and  Pits  speak  of 
two  pieces,  which  probably  are  but  one  ;  the  first  entitled 
**  Vita  Thorns  Cantuariensis  ;"  the  other,  "  Miraeula 
Thomee  Martyris."  ,  Leland,  who  mentions  only  "  the 
Life  of  Becket"  as  written  by  our  author,  gives  it  the  cha- 
racter of  an  elegant  performance.  But  Bate  treats  it  as  a 
mere  heap  of  lies  and  forgeries,  in  order  to  palm  Becket 
en  the  multitude  for  a  first-rate  saint,  and  intercessor  with 
God*  Nor  is  this  author's  zeal  confined  to  Benedict,  but 
extends  itself  to  the  monks  of  those  times  in  general,  whom 
be  represents  as  a  set  of  debauchees  and  impostors,  con- 
cealing their  vices  under  a  mask  of  piety,  and  cheating 
the  people  with  the  most  diabolical  illusions.  Dr.  Cave 
tells  us,  that  the  author  of  the  "  Quadrilogus"  transcribe^ 
a  great  part  of  Benedict's  Life  of  Becket  into  the  third  and 
fourth  books  of  his  work.  This  "  Quadrilogus,  or  De  Vita 
et  Processu  S.  Thorn®  Cantuariensis  et  Martyris  super 
Libertate  ecclesiastica"  (Nicolson  tells  us),  is  collected  out 
of  four  historians,  who  were  contemporary  and  conversant 
with  Becket,  in  bis  height  of  glory,  and  lowest  depress 
sion ;  namely,  Herbert  de  Hoscham,  Johannes  Carno- 
tensis,  William  of  Canterbury,  and  Alan  of  TSuksbury; 
who  are  brought  in  as  so  many  several  relators  of  matters 
of  fact,  interchangeably.  Here  i*  no  mention  of  our  Be* 
nedict  in  this  list ;  so  that  either  the  doctor  is  mistaken  in 
his  assertion,  or  the  bishop  is  not  exact  in  his  account  of  the 
authors  from  whence  the  Quadrilogus  was  compiled.  * 

*  Bias*  BriU-^land,— JBale,— Hcnry,i  Hist,  of  Great  Britain,  toL  VI.  p.  143, 


BENEDICT.  435 

BENEDICT  (Bisdo?  or  Episcoms),  a  famous  abbot  la 
the  seventh  century,  was  born  of  a  noble  family  among 
the  English  Saxons,  and  flourished  under  Oswi  and  Egfri4 
kings  of  Northumberland*  In  the  twenty-fifth  year  of  his 
age*  he  abandoned  all  temporal  views  and  possessions,  to 
devote  himself  wholly  to  religion,  and  for  this  purpose  tra- 
velled to  Rome  in  the  year  653,  where  he  acquired  a 
knowledge  of  ecclesiastical  discipline,  which,  upon  his  re- 
turn home,  he  laboured  to  establish  in  Britain.  In  the 
year  665,  he  took  a  second  journey  to  Rome ;  and  aftet 
some  months  stay  in  that  city,  he  received  the  tonsure  in 
the  monastery  of  Lerins,  where  he  continued  about  two 
years  in  a  strict  observance  of  the  monastic  discipline.  He 
was  sent  back  by  pope  Vitalian,  and  upon  his  return,  took 
upon  himself  the  government  of  the  monastery  of  Canter- 
bury, to  which  he  had  been  elected  in  his  absence.  Two 
years  after,  he  resigned  the  abbey  to  Adrian,  an  abbot, 
and  went  a  third  time  to  Rome,  and  returned  with  a  very 
large  collection  of  the  most  valuable  books.  Then  he  went 
to  the  court  of  Egfrid*  king  of  Northumberland,  who  had 
succeeded  Oswi.  That  prinoe,  with  whom  he  Was  highly 
in  favour,  gave  him  a  tract  of  land  on  the  east  side  of  the 
mouth  of  the  river  Were ;  where  he  built  a  large  hionas* 
tery,  called,  from  its  situation,  Weremouth ;  in  which,  it 
is  said,  he  placed  three  hundred  Benedictine  monks. 
The  church  of  this  convent  was  built  of  stone  after  the 
Roman  architecture,  and  the  windows  glazed  by  artificers 
brought  from  France,  in  the  year  of  Christ  674,  and  the 
fourth  of  king  Egfrid ;  and  both  the  monastery  and  the 
church  were  dedicated  to  St.  Peter.  In  the  year  673, 
Benedict  took  a  fourth  journey  to  Rome,  and  was  kindly 
received  by  pope  A  gat  ho.  From  this  expedition  he  re* 
turned  loaded  with  books,  relics  of  the  apostles  and 
martyrs,  images,  and  pictures,  when,  with  the  pope's  con- 
sept,  he  brought  over  with  him  John,  arch-chanter  of  St> 
Peter's,  and  abbot  of  St.  Martin's,  who  introduced  the 
Roman  manner  of  singing  mass.  In  the  year  632  king 
Egfrid  gave  him  another  piece  of  ground,  on  the  banks  of 
the  Tyne,  four  miles  from  Newcastle;  where  he  built 
another  monastery  called  Girwy  or  Jarrow,  dedicated  to 
St.  Paul,  and  placed  therein  seventeen  monks  under  an. 
abbot  named  Ceolfrid.  About  the  same  time  he  appointed 
a  Presbyter  named  Easterwinus  to  be  a  joint  abbot  with 
himself  of  the  monastery  of  Weremouth  :  soon  after  which, 

r  f  2 


436  BENEDICT. 

be  took  his  fifth  and  last  journey  to  Rome,  and,  as  before, 
came  back  enriched  with  a  farther  supply  pf  ecclesiastical 
books  and  pictures.     He  had  not  been  long  at  home  be-* 
fore  he  was  seized  with  the  palsy,  which  put  an  end  to  his 
life  on  the  12th  of  January,  690.     His  behaviour  during 
his  sickness  appears  to  have  been  truly  Christian  and  ex- 
emplary.    He  was  buried  in  his  own  monastery  of  Were- 
mouth.     He  wrote  some  pieces,   but  Leland  ascribes  to 
him  only  a  treatise  on  the  Agreement  of  the  rule  of  the 
Monastic  life.     Bale  and  Pits  give  this  book  the  title  of 
"  Concordia  Regularum,"  and  the  last-mentioned  author 
informs  us,  that  the  design  of  this  book  was  to  prove,  that 
the  rules  of  all  the  holy  fathers  tallied  exactly  with  that  of 
St.  Benedict,   founder  of  the  Benedictines.     He  .wrote 
likewise  "  Exhortationes  ad  Monachos ;"  "  De  suo  Privi- 
legio."     And  "  De  celebratione  Festorum  totius  anni." 
Mr.  Warton,  in  his  History  of  Poetry,  mentions  Benedict 
Biscop  as  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  the  Saxon  ec- 
clesiastics.    The  library  which  he  added  to  his  monastery, 
was   stored   with   Greek  and   Latin  volumes.     Bede  has 
thought  it  worthy  to  be  recorded,  that  Ceolfrid,  his  suc- 
cessor in  the  government  of  Weremouth  abbey,  augmented 
this  collection  with  three  volumes  of  Pandects,  and  a  book 
of  cosmography,  wonderfully  enriched  with  curious  work- 
manship, and  bought  at  Rome.     The  historian  Bede,  who 
wrote  the  lives  of  four  of  the  abbots  of  Weremouth  and 
Jarrow,  was  one  of  the  monks  in  those  convents,  and  pro- 
nounced a  homily  on  the  death  of  Benedict.     His  body 
was  deposited  in  the  monastery  of  Thorney,  in  Cambridge* 
shire.  * 

BENEDICT  XI.  (Pope),  was  a  native  of  Trevigi,  be- 
longing to  the  state  of  Venice,  and  the  son  of  a  shepherd, 
or,  as  some  say,  of  a  notary.  His  name  was  Nicholas 
Bocasini.  For  some  time  he  earned  a  livelihood  by  teach- 
ing children  at  Venice,  but  becoming  afterwards  a  Do- 
minican, he  applied  himself  diligently  to  his  studies,  and 
acquired  such  superiority  among  his  order,  that  in  129$ 
he  was  appointed  general ;  and,  by  Boniface  VIII.  created 
cardinal  bishop  of  Sabina,  from  which  he  was  soon  after 
translated  to  that  of  Ostia.  He  discharged  likewise  se- 
veral embassies  with  great  reputation,  and  having  returned 
from  Hungary  when  Boniface  was  taken  and  imprisoned  in 

»  Biog.  Brit.— Warton'g  Hist,  of  Poetry,  vol.  II.  Dissert.  II. 


BENEDICT.  437 

his  own  palace  at  Anagni,  he  was  one  of  the  two  cardinals 
who  remained  with  him,  when  all  the  others  fled.  On  the 
death  of  that  pope,  in  %  1303,  our  cardinal  bishop  was 
chosen  to  succeed  him,  and  took  the  name  of  Benedict, 
the  Christian  name  of  his  predecessor,  in  honour  of  him 
who  had  been  the  cause  of  his  advancement  from  a  low 
station.  Among  his  first  measures  he  granted  absolution* 
to  the  king  of  France,  and  annulled  the  decrees  of  Boni- 
face against  him,  which  restored  peace  to  that  country,  and 
this  he  farther  promoted  by  reinstating  the  Colonna  family 
in  all  their  honours  and  possessions.  He  made  it  his  study 
to  quiet  the  disturbances  that  his  predecessor  had  raised, 
not  only  in  France,  but  in  most  other  kingdoms,  and  to 
regain  by  conciliatory  measures  those  whom  the  haughty 
and  imperious  behaviour  of  his  predecessor  had  alienated 
from  the  apostolic  see ;  but  his  pontificate  was  short.  He 
died  the  year  following  his  election,  July  6,  1304,  not 
without  suspicion  of  poison,  administered,  as  some  think, 
by  the  relations  of  Boniface,  in  revenge  for  his  having  re- 
ceived that  pope's  enemies  into  favour,  but  others  impute 
this  crime  to  the  Florentines,  whose  city  he  had  laid  under 
an  interdict,  when  it  was  distracted  by  two  barbarous  fac- 
tions, called  the  Neri  and  the  Bianchi.  The  writers  of 
Benedict's  time  concur  in  reporting  that  he  was  a  man 
exemplary  in  every  respect,  inclined  to  peace  and  con- 
ciliation, and  one  who  had  no  desire  to  enrich  his  family. 
One  trait  of  his  character  seems  to  support  this  last  instance 
of  forbearance.  His  mother  approaching  him  in  a  very 
rich  dress  to  congratulate  him  on  his  promotion,  he  af- 
fected to  consider  her  as  an  impostor,  and  said :  "  My 
mother  is  not  a  princess,  but  a  poor  woman ;"  but  next 
day,  when  she  returned  in  her  ordinary  dress,  he  embraced 
her  with  affection,  and  treated  her  with  every  mark  of  re- 
spect He  wrote  comments  on  the  gospel  of  St.  Matthew, 
the  book  of  Job,  and  the  Revelations,  besides  several 
sermons,  and  letters  to  the  king  of  France  and  other 
princes,  concerning  the  reformation  of  abuses  that  had 
crept  into  the  church  in  their  respective  kingdoms ;  but  of 
his  works,  the  only  one  printed  is  a  comment  on  the  fifth, 
chapter  of  Matthew,  and  some  letters  in  Rainald,  Wad- 
ding, and  Cherubini. 1 

J  Bower's  Lives  of  tbe  Popes.— Dupin.— Watch's  Lives  of  the  Popes, 


438  BENEDIC  TV 

BENEDICT  XII.  (Pope),  whose  name  was  James 
Fournier,  was  a  native  of  Saverdun,  in  the  diocese  of  Pa- 
mier,  the  son  of  a  miller,  or  of  an  obscure  person ;  hot 
some  are  of  opinion  that  he  was  descended  of  a  noble  fa- 
mily. He  embraced  a  religious  life  when  young,  among 
the  Cistertians,  and  having  afterwards  received  the  degree 
of  master  of  divinity  in  the  university  of  Paris,  he  was 
made  abbot  of  Fentfroide,  in  Narbonne,  and  when  he  had 
governed  that  monastery  for  six  years,  with  great  applause, 
he  was  made  first  bishop  of  Famipers,  and  nine  years  after 
translated  to  Mirepoix.  In  December  1327,  pope  Joho 
XXII.  created  him  cardinal  presbyter  of  St.  Prisca,  and  in 
1334,  he  was  elected  pope,  contrary  to  all  expectation* 
The  conclave  had  chosen  Comminge^  cardinal  bishop  of 
Porto,  as  the  most  proper  person,  but  the  French  cardinal; 
insisting  that  he  should  promise  never  to  go  to  Rome,  he 
refused  to  accept  the  office  on  a  condition  so  prejudicial  to 
the  church.  In  this  dilemma,  the  cardinals  being  at  a  loss 
whom  to  nominate,  some  of  them  proposed  James  Four* 
*  nier,  the  most  inconsiderable  of  the  whole  college,  "  om- 
nium infimus,"  and  be  was  unanimously  elected  :  this 
unexpected  turn  gave  occasion  to  some  of  the  writers  of 
his  days  to  attribute  the  whole  to  divine  inspiration,  with 
as  good  reason,  no  doubt,  as  in  the  case  of  any  of  his  pre* 
decessors  or  successors. 

.   Benedict  was  as  much  surprised  as  any  of  his  brethren, 
and  either  out  of  humility,  or  because  he  was  conscious  be 
knew  little  of  public  affairs,  candidly  told  them  that  they 
had  elected  an  ass.     His  actions,  however,  did  not  justify* 
this  comparison.     He  was  indeed  a  stranger  to  the  arts  of 
the  court,  but  he  was  a  learned  divine,  well  versed  in  the 
civil  and  canon  law,  and  a  man  of  exemplary  life  and  pro- 
bity.    His  first  act  was  that  of  liberality.     The  day  after 
his  election,  he  distributed  among  the  cardinals  100,000 
florins  out -of  the  treasure  left  by  his  predecessor;  and  a 
few  days  after  gave  50,000  for  repairing  the  chui$hes  of 
Jtome.      In  his  first   public  sermon  he  preached  on  the 
beatific  vision,  and  maintained  that  the  just  on  their  death, 
saw  God  face  to  face,  before  the  day  of  the  general  resurw 
rection,  contrary  to  the  doctrine  held  by  his  predecessor; 
and  he  was  so  impressed  with  the  necessity  of  establishing 
this  doctrine,  that  he  published  in  1336  a  constitution,  as 
it  was  called,  directly  in  opposition  to  the  notion  of  purga- 


BENEDICT,  43i 

i 

tory  in  any  shape.  The  whole  of  his  political  admumtra* 
tion  appears,  to  have  been  of  the  pacific  kind,  and  in 
providing  for  the  interests  of  the  church,  he  preferred 
men  of  merit  to  vacant  benefices,  and  was  an  enemy  to 
pluralities ;  and  in  some  of  the  religious  orders  he  intro- 
duced reformations  whjch  we  may  be  certain  were  bene- 
ficial and  wise,  because  they  raised  the  indignation  of  the 
monks,  who  have  on  that  account  painted  his  character  in 
the  blackest  colours.  His  last  effort  for  the  peace  of  Eu- 
rope was  to  reconcile  the  kings  of  France  and  England, 
then  at  war,  but  while  employed  on  this,  be  died  of  a  short 
illness,  the  consequence  of  suppressed  evacuation,  April 
25,  1342.  Like  his  predecessor,  he  avoided  aggrandizing 
his  family,  as  most  other  popes  had  done,  and  could 
scarcely  be  prevailed  upon  to  admit  his  relatives  into  his 
presence,  when  they  came  to  congratulate  him  on  his. pro- 
motion. He  used  to  say  "  James  Fournier  had  relation*, 
but  pope  Benedict  has  none,"  and  contented  himself  with 
ordering  the  expences  of  their  journey  to  be  defrayed  out 
of  the  apostolic  chamber.  The  monks  whom  he  had  re- 
formed, however,  contrary  to  all  contemporary  evidence, 
have  accused  him  of  avarice,  debauchery,  and  in  parti- 
cular, of  an  intrigue  with  the  sister  of  the  celebrated  Pe- 
trarch. On  the  other  hand,  all  the  best  historians  have 
extolled  him  as  a  man  of  sanctity  and  a  pattern  of  every 
virtue.  He  wrote  two  volumes  on  the  state  of  the  soul 
before  the  general  judgment ;  eleven  question*  upon  the 
same  subject ;  sermons  for  the  chief  festivals  of  the  year  ; 
all  which  are  in  MS.  in  the  Vatican  library.  He  wrote, 
likewise,  several  constitutions  relating  to  the  reformation 
of  some  religious  orders,  commentaries  upon  the  psalms, 
various  letters,  and  some  poetical  pieces. 1 

BENEDICT  XIII.  (Pope),  otherwise  Vincenzo  Maria 
Orsini,  a  Dominican  friar,  was  a  native  of  the  kingdom  of 
Naples,  and  the  eldest  son  of  the  duke  of  Gravina.  Being 
of  a  religious  turn  of  mind  from  his  tender  yeacs,  he  em- 
braced a  monastic  life  among  the  Dominicans.  In  1672, 
partly  by  his  family  influence,  he  was  preferred  to  the  dig- 
nity of  cardinal,  and  soon  after  to  the  archbishopric  of  Be- 
nevento,  but  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty  prevailed  upon 
to  accept  of  the  papal  dignity,  alleging  that  he  was  utterly 
unacquainted  with  state  affairs,  and  too  old  to  acquire!  that 

»  Bowels  Lives  of  the  Popes.— Dupin.— Walch's  lira  of  the  Popes*. 


440  BENEDICT. 

species  of  knowledge.  Being,  however,  obliged  to  ac~ 
quiesce,  be  began  with  those  measures  which  corresponded 
With  his  previous  disposition,  and  the  retired  life  he  had 
led ;  reducing  the  pleasures  and  pomp  of  his  court,  sup- 
pressing abuses,  and  restraining  the  licentiousness  of  his 
clergy.  With  a  view  to  these  changes,  he  held  a  pro- 
vincial synod  in  the  Lateran  in  1725,  hut  the  Jesuits,  of 
which  three  were  at  this  time  cardinals,  highly  provoked 
at  his  approving  the  doctrine  of  the  Dominicans,  concern- 
ing grace  and  predestination,  found  means  to  render  all 
bis  endeavours  ineffectual.  On  another  occasion,  he  rose 
above  the  bigotry  of  his  predecessors,  by  expressing  a  wish 
for  the  diffusion  of  scriptural  knowledge ;  and  .with  that 
view,  he  permitted  the  people  in  general  to  peruse  the 
■acred  volume,  and  encouraged  the  multiplication  of  copies 
in  the  modem  languages,  which,  although  it  displeased  the 
rigid  catholics,  was  approved  by  a  majority  of  the  mem- 
bers of  that  church.  Benedict,  about  the  same  time,  tes- 
tified his  devotion  to  the  muses,  by  publicly  decorating 
Perfetti,  a  Tuscan  poet,  with  a  crown  of  laurel. 

One  leading  object  with  him  was  to  unite  the  four  reli- 
gious communities  in  Christendom.  He  proposed  that  four 
councils  should  be  held  at  different  places,  each  consisting 
of  a  certain  number  of  representatives  of  the  Romish, 
Greek,  Lutheran,  and  Calvinist  churches ;  but  it  is  unne- 
cessary to  add  that  this  scheme  was  found  impracticable. 
In  all  his  transactions,  however,  with  the  catholic  sovereigns 
of  Europe,  he  endeavoured  to  operate  by  a  conciliatory 
temper,  and  although  not  always  successful,  yet  the  purity 
of  his  intentions  was  visible.  It  has  been  said  that  he  was 
more  of  a  monk  than  of  a  pope,  by  which  we  may  pro- 
bably understand,  that  he  was  more  attached  to  what  he 
conceived  to  be  the  genuine  interests  of  the  church,  than 
to  her  political  influence.  Indefatigable  in  his  apostolical 
duties,  he  continued  to  preach  and  pray,  attended  to  all 
pontifical  and  sacerdotal  functions,  and  directed  the  con- 
duct of  subordinate  prelates  and  ministers  of  the  church. 
He  frequently  visited  the  poor,  and  not  only  gave  them 
spiritual  comfort,  but  relieved  them  by  his  bounty,  selling 
for  that  purpose  the  presents  which  he  received.  He 
habituated  himself  to  the  plainest  fare,  and  lived  in  the 
most  frugal  manner,  like  a  hermit  in  his  cell,  that  he  might 
more  liberally  bestow  upon  others  the  blessings  of  fortune. 
His* chief  blemish  was  that  easiness  of  temper,  and  reluct- 


BENEDICT.  4*1 

•nee  to  active  business,  which  led  him  to  suffer  cardinal 
Coscia,  an  unprincipled  Neapolitan,  to  have  the  entire 
management  of  the  government,  and  would  listen  to  no 
complaints  against  him,  although  Coscia  was  guilty  of  the 
most  enormous  and  notorious  extortions.  Yet  he  died, 
without  losing  his  popularity,  Feb.  21,  1750,  in  the 
sixth  year  of  his  pontificate.  His  works  were  published  in 
3  vols.  1728,  fol.  under  the  title  of  "  Opera  di  Bene- 
detto XIII." l 

BENEDICT  XIV.  (Pope),  whose  name  was  Prosper 
Lambertini,  was  born  in  1675,  at  Bologna.     He  was  ap* 
pointed  canon  of  the  Basilicon,  or  great  church  of  St.  Pe- 
ter, then  successively  archbishop  of  Theodosia,  and  bishop 
of  Ancona.     He  received  the  cardinal's  hat  in  1728,  was 
deputy  of  the  congregation  of  the  holy  office  the  same  year, 
became  archbishop  of  Bologna  in   1731,   and  succeeded 
pope  Clement  XII.  August  17,   1740.     He  then  took  the 
name  of  Benedict  XIV.  zealously  endeavoured  to  calm  the 
dissensions  which  had  arisen  in  the  church,  patronised  arts 
and  sciences,  founded  several  academies  at  Rome,  and  de- 
clared openly  in  favour  of  the  Thomists.     This  pope  did 
justice  to  the  memory  of  the  celebrated  cardinal  Noris ;  pub-  , 
lished  the  bull  "  Omnium  sollicitudinum"  against  certain 
ceremonies,  and  addressed  a  brief  to  cardinal  Saldanha  for 
the  reformation  of  the  Jesuits,  which  was  the  foundation 
of  their  destruction.     He  had  also  established  a  congrega- 
tion to  compose  a  body  of  doctrine,  by  which  the  troubles 
of  the  church  might  be  calmed.     This  pontiff  was  a  very 
able,  canonist,  and  well  acquainted  with  ecclesiastical  his- 
tory and  antiquities.     Though  he  governed  with  great  wis- 
dom, and  was  very  zealous  for  religion,  he  was  lively  in  his 
conversation,  and  fond  of  saying  bon  mots.     He  died  1758, 
aged  S3.     His  works  were  published  before  his  death  in 
16  vols.  4to,  by  Azevedo.     The  four  last  contain  his  briefs, 
bulls,  &c.     The  five  first  are,  "  A  treatise  on  the  Beati- 
fication and  Canonization  of  Saints,"  in  which  the  sub- 
ject is  exhausted ;  an  abridgement  of  it  was  published  in 
French,    1759,  12mo.    The  sixth  contains  the  actions  of 
the  saints  whom  he  canonized.     The  two  next  consist  of 
supplements,  and  remarks  on  the  preceding  ones.     The 
ninth  treats  on  the  "  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass,"  and  the  tenth 
on  the  "  Festivals  instituted  in  honour  of  Jesus  Christ  and 

1  Bower's  Lives  of  the  Popes.— Dupin.— -Walch's  Lives  of  the  Popes.— Mc- 
sbeim,  Eecl,  Hist. 


44*  «     BENEDICT. 

the  Holy  Virgin."  The  eleventh  is  entitled  "  Ecclesias- 
tical Institutions  ;"  an  excellent  work,  containing  his  in* 
structions,  mandates,  letters,  &e.  while  he  was  bishop  of 
Ancona,  and  afterwards  archbishop  of  Bologna.  The 
twelfth  is  a  "  Treatise  on  Diocesan  Synods/'  All  die  above 
are  in  Latin.  .  Caraccioli  published  his  life  at  Paris,  1784, 
12mo.  It  was  begun  in  the  life  time  of  Benedict,  and  part 
of  it  submitted  to  him, by  the  author,  to  whom  the  pope 
said,  "  If  you  were  a  historian,  instead  of  a  panegyrist,  I 
should  thank  you  for  the  picture  you  have  drawn»  and  with 
which  I  am  perfectly  satisfied." l 

BENEDICT  (Rene',  or  Renatus),  a  famous  doctor  of 
the  Sorbonne,  and  curate  of  St.  Eustathius  at  Paris  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  was  born  at  Sevenieres  near  Angers. 
He  was  a  secret  favourer  of  the  protectant  religion  ;  and 
that  his  countrymen  might  be  able  to  read  the  Bible  in  their 
own  tongue,  he  published  at  Paris  the  French  translation 
which  had  been  made  by  the  reformed  ministers  at  Geneva. 
This  translation  was  approved  by  several  doctors  of  the 
Sorbonne  before  it  went  to  the  press ;  and  king  Charles  IX. 
bad  granted  a  privilege  for  the  printing  of  it,  yet  when 
published  it  was  immediately  condemned.  In  1587  king 
Henry  HI.  appointed  Benedict  to  be  reader  and  regius 
professor  of  divinity  in  the  college  of  Navarre  at  Paris. 
He  had  been  before  that  time  confessor  to  the  unhappy 
Mary  queen  of  Scotland,  during  her  stay  in  France,  and 
attended  her  when  she  returned  into  Scotland.  Some  time 
before  the  death  of  Henry  III.  Benedict,  or  some  of  bis 
friends  with  his  assistance,  published  a  book,  entitled 
*'  Apologie  Catholique,"  to  prove  that  the  pro testant,  reli- 
gion, which  Henry  king  of  Navarre  professed,  was  not  a 
sufficient  reason  to  deprive  him  of  his  right  of  succeeding 
to  the  crown  of  France;  first,  because  the  Huguenots  ad- 
mitted the  fundamental  articles  of  the  catholic  faith,  and 
that  the  ceremonies  and  practices- which  they  exploded  had 
been  unknown  to  the  primitive  church.  Secondly,  be- 
cause the  council  of  Trent,  in  which  they  had  been  con- 
demned, was  neither  general,  nor  lawful,  nor  acknowledged 
in  France.  After  the  murder  of  Henry  III.  a  factious  di- 
vine wrote  an  answer  to  that  book,  which  obliged  Bene- 
dict to  publish  a  reply.     When  king  Henry  IV.  was  re- 

1  L'Arocat's  Diet  Hist.— Walch  and  Bower's  Lives  of  the  Popes.— Mosheim* 
▼oUVI.  edit  18U. 


BENEDICT.  44* 

solved  to  embrace  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  be  wrote 
to  Benedict^  commanding  him  to  meet  him.  The  doctor 
on  this  consulted  wkh  the  pope's  legate,  who  was  then  at 
Paris,  and  advised  him  to  answer  the  king,  that  he  could 
not  go  to  him  without  the  pope's  leave,  which  exasperated 
the  people  at  Paris,  because  they  understood  by  this  ad- 
vice, that  he  favoured  the  Spanish  faction,  and  endea- 
voured only  to  protract  the  civil  war.  However,  Benedict 
assisted  some  time  after  at  the  conference  which  was  held 
at  St.  Dennis,  and  in  which  it  was  resolved,  that  the  king, 
having  given  sufficient  proofs  of  his  faith  and  repentance, 
might  be  reconciled  to  the  church,  without  waiting  for  tb4 
pope's  consent.  Benedict  also  assisted  at  that  assembly,  in 
which  king  Henry  abjured  the  reformed  religion,  and  hav- 
ing embraced  the  Roman  Catholic  faith,  was  absolved  by 
the  archbishop  of  Bourges.  Tb6  king  promoted  him  after- 
wards, about  1597,  to  the  bishopric  of  Troyes  in  Champagne, 
but  he  could  never  obtain  the  pope's  bulls  to  be  installed, 
and  only  enjoyed  the  temporalities  till  1604,  when  he  re- 
signed it  wkh  the  king's  leave  to  Kenatus  de  Breslay*  arch- 
deacon; of  Angers.  He  died  at  Paris,  March  7,  1608,  and 
was  buried  near  the  great  altar  in  his  parish  church  of  St, 
EostaAhius,  Dr.  Victor  Cayet  made  his  funeral  oration* 
*  Besides  the  books,  which  we  have  mentioned)  he  wrote 
three  or  four  other  pieces,  the  titles  of  which  are  mentioned 
by  father  le  Long,  bat  they  are  of  little  note,  except  per- 
haps his  history  of  the  coronation  of  king  Henry  III*  "  Le 
Sacre  et  Couronnemeot  du  roi  Henry  III.  l'an  1575,  par 
Renl  Benoit,  docteur  en  theologie,"  Reims,  1575,  8vo, 
and  inserted  in  Godefrey's  "  Ceremonial  de  France,"  Paris, 
1§19,  ^o.1 

BENEDICTUS  (Alexander),  or  BENEDETTI,  a  very 
eminent  physician  and  medical  writer  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tory,  was  born  at  Legnano  in  the  territory  of  Verona. 
When  he  had  completed  his-  studies,  he  went  to  Greece 
and  the  isle  of  Candy,  as  army  surgeon,  and  on  his  return, 
be  was  made  professor  of  medicine  at  Padua,  where  he  re- 
mained until  1495,  when  he  settled  at  Venice.  The  time 
of  bis  death  is  not  ascertained,  but  it  appears  that  he  was: 
alive  in  151 1.  Halle r  mentions  him  as  at  the  head  of  the 
4(iginal  medical  writers,  and  says  his  style  was  far  pre- 
ferable to  that  of  his  predecessors.    His  works  are,  1.  "  De 

i  Otnr.  X>ict.~-Morerl. 


44*  BENE01  C'T'tfS. 

observatione  in  Pestilentia,"  Venice,  1493,  4to,  Bonort. 
1516,  fol.  Basil,  1538,  8vo,  &c.  2.  "  Collectiones  medi- 
etas, sive,  aphorismi  de  medici  et  aegri  officio,*9  Leyden, 
1506.  3.  "  Anatomise,  sive  de  historia  corporis  humani, 
lib.  v."  Venice,  1493,  often  reprinted.  4.  "De  omnium 
a  capite  ad  calcem  morborum  causis,  signis,  differentiis, 
indicationibus,  et  remediis,  lib.  triginta,"  Venice,  I50O, 
fol.  also  often  reprinted.  There  are  some  remains  of  me* 
dical  superstition  in  this  work,  but  many  excellent  observa- 
.  tions  and  useful  cases.  5.  "Opera  omnia  in  unum  col- 
lecta,"  Venice,-  1533,  fol.  Basil,  1539,  4to,  and  1549  and 
1572,  fol.1 

BENEDICTUS  (Peter),  a  celebrated  Maronite,  was  bora 
at  Gusta  in  Phenicia,  1663,  of  a  noble  family,  and  sent  to 
the  Maronite  college  at  Rome  when  but  nine  years  old, 
where  he  made  a  great  progress  in  the  oriental  languages, 
returned  afterwards  to  the  east,  and  -  applied  himself  to 
preaching  the  gospel  there.  The  Maronites  of  Antioch 
sent  him  back  to  Rome,  as  a  deputy  from  their  church. 
Cosmo  HI.  grand  duke  of  Tuscany,  invited  Benedict 
to  his  court;  heaped  many  honours  and  favours  upon 
him,  and  made  him  professor  of  Hebrew  at  Pisa,  and 
Clement  XI.  appointed  him  one  of  the  correctors  of  the 
Greek  press.  He  entered  among  the  Jesuits  at  the  age  of 
forty :  his  amiable  temper,  integrity,  and  profound  skill 
in  the  oriental  languages,  procured  him  the  esteem  of  all 
the  learned.  He  died  September  22,  1742,  at  Rome, 
aged  80.  He  published  the  first  volumes  of  that  excel- 
lent edition  of  St  Ephraim,  which  has  been  continued 
and  finished  by  M.  Assemani.* 

BENEFIELD  (Sebastian),  an  eminent  divine  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  was  born  August  12,  1559,  at  Pres- 
tonbury  in  Gloucestershire.  He  was  admitted,  at  seventeen 
years  of  age,  a  scholar  of  Corpus  phristi  college,  Oxford, 
and  probationer-fellow  of  the  same  house,  April  16,  1590. 
After  he  had  taken  the  degree  of  master  of  arts,  he  went 
into  boly  orders,  and  distinguished  himself  as  a  preacher. 
In  1599,  be  was  appointed  rhetoric -reader  of  his  college, 
and  the  year  following  was  admitted  to  the  reading  of  the 
sentences.  In  1608,  he  took  the  degree  of  doctor  in 
divinity,  and  five  years  after  was  chosen  Margaret  professor 

'  Diet  Hist HaUwr.-— Mangct 

*  Fabroni  Vitfe  Italorum,  vol.  Xt — Diet.  Hist.    k 


BENEFIELD-,  US 

in  that  university*    He  filled  the  divinity  chair  with  great 
reputation,  and  after  fourteen  years  resigned  it.     He  had 
been  presented,  several  years  before,  to  the  rectory  of 
Meysey- Hampton,  near  Fairford  in  Gloucestershire,  upon 
the  ejection  of  his  predecessor  for  simony ;  and  now  he 
retired  to  that  benefice,  and  spent  there  the  short  remain- 
der of  his  life  (about  four  years)  in  a  pious  and  devout  re- 
treat from  the  world.     Dr.  Benefield  was  so  eminent  a 
scholar,    disputant,  and  divine,  and    particularly  so  well 
versed  in  the  fathers  and  schoolmen,  that  he  had  not  hia 
equal  in  the  university.     He  was  strongly  attached  to  the 
opinions  of  Calvin,  especially  that  of  predestination ;  inso- 
much that  Humphrey  Leach  calls  him  a  downright  and 
doctrinal  Calvinist.     He  has  been  branded  likewise  with 
the  character  of  a  schismatic  :  but  Dr.  Ravis,  bishop  of 
London,  acquitted  him  of  this  imputation,  and  declared 
him  to  be  "  free  from   schism,  and  much  abounding  in 
science.'9     He  was  remarkable  for  strictness  of  life  and 
sincerity ;  of  a  retired  and  sedentary  disposition,  and  con- 
sequently less  easy  and  affable  in  conversation.     This  wor- 
thy divine  died  in  the  parsonage  house  of  Meysey-Hamp- 
ton,  August  24,   1630,  and  was  buried  in  the  chancel  of 
his  parish  church,  the  29th  of  the  same  month.     His  works 
are,    1.  "Doctrinal  Christian ae  sex  Capita  totidem  prae- 
lectionibus  in  schola  theologica  Oxoniensi  pro  forma  habi- 
tis  discussa  et  disceptata,"  Oxon.  1610,  4to.     2.  "  Ap- 
pendix ad  Caput  secundum  de  consiliis  Evangelicis,  &c* 
adversus  Humphredum  Leach."     This  is  printed  with  the 
foregoing  treatise.     3.  "  Eight  sermons  publicly  preached 
in  the  university  of  Oxford,  the  second  at  St.  Peter's  in  the 
East,  the  rest  at  St  Mary's  church.  Began  Dec.  14,  1595," 
Oxford,  1614,  4to.     4.  "The  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost 
discovered,    and   other   Christian  doctrines  delivered,   in 
twelve  Sermons  upon  part  of  the  tenth  chapter  of  the  epis- 
tle to  the  Hebrews,"   Oxford,   161$,  4to.     £.  "  A  com- 
mentary or  exposition  upon  the  first  chapter  of  Amos,  de- 
livered in   twenty-one  sermons   in   the  parish-church  of 
Meysey- Hampton  in  the  diopese  of  Gloucester,"  Oxford, 
1613,  4to.     This  work  was  translated  in  to,  Latin  by  Henry 
Jackson  of  Corpus  Christi  college,  and  printed  at  Oppen- 
heim  in  1615,  8vo.     6.  "  Several  Sermons,  on  occasional 
subjects."     7.  "  A  commentary,  or  exposition  upon  the 
second  chapter  of  Amos,  delivered  in  twenty-one  sermons, 
in  the  parish-church  of  Meysey- Hampton,  &c."  London, 


44*  BENEFIELD. 

1620,  4to.  8.  "  Praelectiones  de  perseverantia  Sanctorum,*' 
Francfort,  1618,  8vp.  9.  "  A  commentary,  or  exposition 
on  the  third  chapter  of  Amos,  &c.M  London,  1 629,  4to» 
10.  There  is  extant  likewise  a  Latin  sermon  of  Dr.  Bene* 
field's  on  Revelations  v.  10.  printed  in  1616,  4to.  * 

BENEVOLI  (Anthony),  an  Italian  surgeon,  was  born 
in  1685  in  the  dutcby  of  Spoletta,  and  at  the  age  of  nine; 
was  sent  to  Florence,  where  after  going  through  a  classical 
course,  he  studied  philosophy,  anatomy,  and  surgery,  and 
acquired  great  reputation  for  his  skill  in  disorders  of  die  eyes 
and  in  ruptures.  In  1755,  he  was  appointed  principal  sur- 
geon of  the  hospital  of  St.  Mary  in  Florence,  and  died  in  that 
city,  May  7,  1 756.  He  wrote,  1.  "  Lettera  sopra  cataratta 
gleucomatosa,"  Florence,  1722,  8vo.  2.  "Nuovapropo- 
zitione  intorno  alia  caruncula  dell9  uretra  della  carnosita, 
&c."  ibid.  1724,  12mo.  3.  "  Manifesto  sopra  alcune  ac- 
cuse contenute  in  uno  certo  parere  del  signor  P.  P.  Lupi,,f 
ibid.  1734,  4to.  4.  "  Giustificatione  delle  repJicati  accuse 
del  signor  P.P.  Lupi,"  ibid.  1734,  4to.  5.  "  Disserta- 
zioni  sopra  Porigine  dell'  ernia  intestinale,  &c."  ibid.  1747$ 
4to.  * 

BENEZET  (Anthony),  an  American  philanthropist,  in 
early  life  was  put  apprentice  to  a  merchant ;  but  finding 
commerce  opened  temptations  to  a  worldly  spirit,  he  left 
his  master,  and  bound  himself  apprentice  to  a  cooper. 
Finding  this  business  too  laborious  for  his  constitution,  he 
declined  it,  and  devoted  himself  to  school-keeping;  in 
which  useful  employment  he  continued  during  the  greatest 
part  of  his  life.  He  was  author  of  "  A  Caution  to  Great 
Britain  and  her  Colonies,  in  a  short  representation  of  the 
calamitous  state  of  the  enslaved  negroes  in  the  British  do* 
minions/' 1767,  8vo ;  "  Some  historical  account  of  Guinea, 
with  an  enquiry  into  the  rise  and  progress-of  the  Slaws 
Trade,  its  nature,  and  lamentable  effects,"  1772,  8vo,  and 
some  other  tracts  on  the  same  subject.  He  possessed  un- 
common activity  and  industry  in  every  thing  he  undertook. 
He  declared  he  did  every  thing  as  if  the  Words  of  bis  Sa- 
viour  were  perpetually  sounding  in  his  ears,  "  Wist  ye  not 
that  I  must  be  about  my  Father's  business  ?"  He  used  to 
say,  "  the  highest  act  of  charity  in  the  world  was  to  bear 
with  the  unreasonableness  of  mankind."  He  generally 
wore  plush  clothes ;  and  gave  as  a  reason  for  it,  that  after 

»  Ath.  Ox.  vol.  L— fife*  Brit  *  Diet  Hi*, 


BENEZET.  44t 

ha  had  worn  them  for  two  or  three  ye*rs,  they  made  com- 
fortable  and  decent  garments  for  the  poor.  He  once  in- 
formed a  young  friend,  that  his  memory  began  to  fail  him  ; 
**  but  this,"  said  he,  "  gives  me  one  great  advantage  over 
you;  for  you  can  find  entertainment  in  reading  a  good' 
book  only  once — but  I  enjoy  that  pleasure  as  often  as  I 
read  it;  for  it  is  always  new  to  me."  Few  men  since  the 
days  of  the  apostles  ever  lived  a  more  disinterested  life; 
and  yet  upon  his  death-bed  he  said,  he  wished  to  live  a 
little  longer,  that  "  he  might  bring  down  self."  The  last 
time  he  ever  walked  across  his  room,  was  to  take  from  his 
desk  six  dollars,  which  he  gave  to  a  poor  widow  whom  he 
had  long  assisted  to  maintain.  He  died  at  Philadelphia  irt 
1784.  His  funeral  was  attended  by  persons  of  all  religious 
denominations,  and  by  many  hundred  negroes.  An  offi- 
cer, who  had  served  in  the  American  army  during  the  late 
war,  in  returning  from  the  funeral,  pronounced  an  eulo- 
gium  upon  him.  It  consisted  only  of  the  following  words : 
u  I  would  rather,"  said  he,  "  be  Anthony  Benezet  in  that 
coffin,  than  George  Washington  with  all  his  fame."  l 

RENGEL,  or  BENGELIUS  (John  Albert),  a  learned 
German  divine,  principally  known  in  this  country  for  his 
excellent  edition  of  the  Greek  Testament,  was  born  June 
24,  1687,  at  Winneden  in  the  duchy  of  Wirtemberg.  He 
was>  says  the  writer  of  the  meagre*  account  in  the  Diet, 
Hist,  the  first  of  the  Lutheran  divines  who  published  a 
learned,  profound,  and  complete  criticism  on  the  New 
Testament,  or  rather  an  accurate  edition.  He  became  a 
critic  from  motives  purely  conscientious.  The  various  and 
anxious  doubts  which  he  entertained,  from  the  deviations 
exhibited  in  preceding  editions,  induced  him  to  examine 
the  sacred  text  with  great  care  and  attention,  and  the  re- 
sult of  his  labours  was,  1.  his  u  Novi  Testamenti  Graeci 
recte  cauteque  adornandi  prodromus,"  Stutgard,  1725,  8vo. 
£.  w  Notitia  Nov.  Test.  Graec.  recte  cauteque  adornati,'* 
ibid.  1731,  8vo,  and  3.  his  edition  entitled  "  Novum  Test. 
Graec.  cum  introductione  in  Crisin  N.  T.  Apparatu  Critico, 
et  Epilogo,"  ibid.  1734,  4to.  He  afterwards  published, 
4.  w  Gnomon  Nov.  Test,  in  quo  ex  nativa  verborum  vi  sim- 
plicity, profunditas,  concinnitas  sensuum  ccelestium  indi- 
catur,"  ibid.  1742,  and  1759,  and  lastly  in  1763,  at  Ulm, 
in  which  same  year,  a  new  edition  of  his  "Apparatus  Cri^ 

\  Prom  tht  preceding1  edition  of  thw  Dictionary. 


445  B  E  N  G  E  L 

ticus"  was  published,  with  many  additions,  by  Phil  D; 
Burkius,  4to.  Bengal's  most  formidable  enemies  were 
Ernesti  and  Wetstein,  neither  of  whom  treated  him  with 
the  courtesy  that  becomes  men  of  letters.  His  edition  of 
the  New  Testament  is  unquestionably  a  lasting  monument 
of  the  author's  profound  learning  and  solid  piety,  and  has 
often  been  reprinted  to  gratify  the  public  demand.  In 
1745,  Bengel  published  "  Cyclus,  sive  de  anno  magno 
solis,  lunae,  stellarum  consideratio,  ad  incrementum  doc- 
trines prophetic®  atque  astronomies  accommodata,"  Ulm, 
Svo,  and  after  his  death,  which  took  place  in  1752,  ap- 
peared his  "  Ordo  temporito,  a  principio  per  periodos 
rtconomiae  divinae  historicas  atque  propheticas,  at  finera 
usque  ita  deductus,  ut  tota  series  et  quarumvis  partium 
analogia  senspiternse  virtutis  ac  sapientisc  cultoribus  ex 
script  Vet  et  Nov.  Test,  tanquam  ufto  revera  documento 
proponatur,"  Stutgard,  1753.  Bengel  maintained  the  doc- 
trine of  the  millenium,  or  second  appearance  of  Christ 
upon  earth  to  reign  with  his  saints  a  thousand  years.  His 
"  Introduction  to  his  Exposition  to  the  Apocalypse,"  was 
translated  and  published  by  John  Robertson,  M.  D,  Lon- 
don, 1757. ! 

BENI  (Paul),  professor  of  eloquence  in  the  university 
of  Padua,  was  a  native  of  Candia,  where  he  was  born  in 
1553,  and  whence  he  was  brought  in  his  infancy  to  Gubio 
in  the  duchy  of  Urbino.  He  was  in  the  society  of  Jesuits 
for  some  time,  but  quitted  them  upon  their  refusing  him 
permission  to  publish  a  commentary  on  the  banquet  of 
Plato.  He  was  fond  of  critical  controversy,  and  maintained 
a  dispute  with  the  academy  della  Crusca.  of  Florence,  pub- 
lishing a  treatise  against  their  Italian  dictionary,  under  the 
title  of  "  Anti- Crusca."  He  had  likewise  another  contest 
with  the  same  academy  with  respect  to  Tasso,  whose  de- 
fence he  undertook,  and  published  two  pieces  on  this  sub- 
ject. In  one  of  these  he  compares  Tasso  to  Virgil,  and 
Ariosto  to  Homer,  in  some  particulars  giving  Tasso  the 
preference  to  these  two  ancients :  in  the  other  he  answers 
the  critical  censures  which  had  been  made  against  this  au- 
thor. He  published  also  some  discourses  upon  the  Pastor 
Fido  of  Guarini.  These  pieces  were  in  Italian ;  but  he 
has  left  a  greater  number  of  works  in  Latin,  among  which 
are,  1.  "  Commentarii  in  6  lib.  priores  Virgilii."  2.  "  Com- 

1  Diet  HisU— Dibdm's  Clawics.— Saxii  OnomaatioQiu 


B  E  N  I.  44* 

mentarii  in  Aristotelis  poeticam  et  lib.  Rhetor."  3.  "  Com- 
mentarii  in  Sallustium."  4.  "  Platonis  Poetica  ex  dialogis 
collecta."  5.  "  Dispensatio  de  Baronii  annalibus."  6.  "  Dis- 
putatio  de  historia."  7.  "  Disputatio  de  auxiliis."  8.  "  Ora- 
tiones  75."  9. "  Decades  tres  in  Platonis  Timaeum  ;"  all 
collected  in  5  vols.  fol.  Venice,  1622.  He  died  the  l{2|h 
of  February  1625.  He  was  undoubtedly  a  man  of  exten- 
sive learning,  but  loquacious  and  prolix.  * 

BENJAMIN  of  Tudela,  a  Jewish  rabbi,  and  author  of 
the  "  Itinerary,"  was  the  son  of  Jonas  of  Tudela,  and  born 
in  the  kingdom  of  Navarre.  He  flourished  about  the  year 
1170.  He  travelled  over  several  of  the  most  remote  countries, 
and  wherever  he  came,  wrote  a  particular  account  of  whit 
he  either  saw  himself,  or  was  informed  of  by  persons  of 
credit.  He  died  in  1 173,  not  long  after  his  return  from  his 
travels.  Casimir  Oudin  tells  us,  that  he  was  a  man  of 
"great  sagacity  and  judgment,  and  well  skilled  in  the  sacred 
laws ;  and  that  bis  observations  and  accounts  have  been 
generally  found  to  be  exact  upon  examination,* our  author 
being  remarkable  for  his  love  of  truth.  There  have  been 
several  editions  of  his  "  Itinerarium."  It  was  translated 
from  the  Hebrew  into  Latin  by  Benedict  Arius  Montanus, 
and  printed  by  Plantin  at  Antwerp  in  1575,  8vo.  Con- 
stantine  TEmpereur  likewise  published  it  with  a  Latin  ver- 
sion, and  a  preliminary  dissertation,  and  large  notes ; 
which  was  printed  by  Elzevir  in  1633,  8vo.  J.  P.  Baratier 
translated  it  into  French,  1734,  2  vols.  8vo,  but  the  most 
remarkable  translation  is  that  published  at  London  in  1783 
by  the  Rev.  B.  Gerrans,  lecturer  of*  St.  Catherine  Cole- 
man, and  second  master  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  Free  Gram- 
mar school,  St.  Olave,  Southwark.  The  author  of  this 
translation,  which  is  taken  from  the  Elzevir  edition  above- 
mentioned,  hesitates  not  to  speak  of  Benjamin  as  con- 
temptible, doubts  whether  he  ever  left  his  native  Tudela, 
but  allows,  although  with  some  reluctance,^  that  he  may 
have  travelled  through  Spain  and  some  part  of  Italy.  Mr, 
Gerrans,  having  thus,  as  he  says,  "  unmasked,  chastised, 
and  humbled  his  author,"  allows  that  as*  he  wrote  in  a  cen. 
tury  so  obscure,  we  ought  to  be  glad  of  the  least  monu- 
ment to  cast  a  glimmering  light  on  it.  He  allows  also  that 
the  pure  and  simple  style  in  which  the  book  is  written 

1  Gen.  Diet.— Baillet  Jagemens  del  Savant. — Freheri  Tbeatrum.— »Sa*U  Qb9- 
masticon. 

Vox,.  IV.  G« 


4^0,  B  E  NJAHI  N. 

render5.it  one,  of  the.  best  introductions  to  the  Rafonical 
dialect;  it  throws  more  light  00.  the  times  thai)  a  whole- 
catalogue  ]  of  monkish,  writers :  it  shews  the  ignorance  of 
the  Jewish  teachers,  in  matters  of  geography  and  history, 
and  the  state  and  numbers  of  their  own  people.     The  chief 
u§e^  the  translator  adds,  which  he  wishes  to  make  of  the 
book,  is  to  confirm  lukewarm  and  indifferent  Christians,  in 
the  principles  of  their  religion,  and  to  combat  the  errors 
and  impenitence  of  the,  Jews  by  their  own  weapons.   This 
wprk  is  no  doubt  a  curiosity,  as  the  production  of  a  Jew  in 
tl)Q,  twelfth  century,  and  the  translator's  observations  also 
may  be  allowed  to  have  some  weight;  but  considered  in' 
itsplf,  the  rabbi's  book  has  only  a  small  portion  of  real 
worth,;  for  in  addition  to.  the  fabulous  narrations,  which 
lead  the  reader  to  suspect  huh  even  when  he  speaks  truth* 
there  are  many  .other  errors,  omissions,  and  mistakes.  Ben- 
jamin's principal  view  seems  to  haye  been  to  represent  the 
number  and  state  of  his  brethren  in  different  parts  of  the.. 
WjprJcJ,  and  accordingly  he  mentions  merely  the  names  of 
many  places  to  which  we  are  to  suppose  he  travelled,  fur- 
nishing no  remark,'  except,  perhaps,   a  brief  account  of 
the  Jews  to  be  found  there.     When  he  relates  any  thing 
farther,,  it  is  often  trifling,  or  fictitious,  or  mistaken,  as  he  . 
frequently  is,  even  in  numbering  his, countrymen. 1 

BJ£NJGNUS  (St.)  archbishop  of  Armagh  in  Ireland,  was 
the  immediate  successor  of  St  Patrick  in  that  see,  anno  455  ; 
though  it  must  be  confessed,  that  this  Js  a  point  which  has  . 
afforded  some  controversy.  Writers  differ,  as  to  his  name  : 
some  call  him  Stephen,  some  Beneneus,  others  Beona,  and 
by  an  Irish  termination  of  the  word  B$pin,  in  Latin,  Benig- 
rius. ,  It  is  probable  that  St^  Patrick  baptized  him  by  the 
name  of  Stephen,  and  that  he  obtained  the  name  pf  Benin 
from  his  sweet  disposition,  and  his  great  affection  to  St. 
Patrick, ,  the  wqrd.  £m,  in  the  Irish  language,  signifying 
sxvret ;  and  that  from  thence  the  other  panics  flowed.  He 
was  the  son  of  Sesgnen,,  a  man  of  wealth  vand  power  in 
Meath,  who,  in  the  war. in  4S3,  hospitably  entertained  St. . 
Patriqk  in  his  journey  from .  the  ( port  of  Colp>  w  here,  he* . 
landed,  to  the  court  of  king  Leogair  at  Tarah,.  and,  with 
his  whole  family,  embraced  Christianity  and  received  bap-* 
tism.  The  youth  grew  so  fond  of  his  father's  guest,  that. 
he  could  not  be  separated  from  his  company.     St.  Patrick 

*  Gen.  Diet— Month.  Rev.  vol.  LXX. — Saxii  Onomasticoo. 


B  E  N  I  G  N'U  S.  451 

took,  him  away  with  him  at  his  departure,  and  taught  him 
his  first  rudiments  of  learning  and  religion :  Benin  profited 
greatly  under  such  a  master,  and  became  afterwards  a  man 
eminent  for  piety  and  virtue,  whom  St.  Patrick  thought 
worthy  to  fill  the  see  of  Armagh,  which  he  resigned  to  him 
in  the  year  455.  Benin  died  in  the- year  468,  oa  the  ninth 
of  November,  having  also  resigned  his  see  three  years  be- 
fore his  death.  The  writers  of  the  dark,  ages,  however  dif- 
ferent they  are  from  one  another  in  other  particulars,  yet 
in  the  main  agree  as  to  the  succession  of  St,  Benin  in  the 
government  of  the  see  of  Armagh,  but  there  is  some  dis- 
cordance among  them  as  to  the  place  of  his  death  and  bu- 
rial, which  we  shall  not  attempt  tp  reconcile ;  some  con- 
tending he  died  and  was  buried  at  Armagh,  and  others  at 
Glastonbury.  The  following  writings  are  ascribed  to  him  : 
1.  "A  book  partly  in  Latin,  and  partly  in  Irish,  on  the 
virtues  and  miracles  of  St.  Patrick ;"  to  which  Jocelin  con- 
fesses he  was  indebted.  2.  "  An  Irish  Poem,  written  on 
the  Conversion  of  the  people  of  Dublin  to  the  Christian 
Faith.'*  3.  "The  Munster  Book  of  reigns,"  called  by  some. 
Leabhar  Bening,  or  Bening's  Book,  and  by  others  Leabhar 
na  Geart,  qu.  d.  the  book  of  Genealogy,  which  is  ascribed 
to  him  by  Nicolson. l 

BENIVIENI  (Jerome),  a  celebrated  poet  of  Florence, 
who  died  in  1542,  aged  eighty -nine,  was  one,  of  the  first 
who,  following  Lorenzo  de  Medici  and  Politian,  contri- 
buted essentially  to  the  advancement  of  Italian  poetry. 
The  greater  part  of  his  poems  turn  upon  divine  love.  His 
"  Canzone  dell'  Amor  celeste  e  divino"  was  in  great  esteem, 
as  containing,  what  now  is  thought  its  chief  defect,  the: 
sublime  ideas  of  the  philosophy  of  Plato,  on  love*  This 
work  was  printed  at  Florence  in  1519,  in  8vo,  with  other 
poetical  pieces  of  the  same  author.  There  had  already 
been  an  edition  of  his  works,  at  Florence,  in  folio,  1500* 
which  is  extremely  scarce.  Another  performance  of  his  is 
entitled,  "  Commento  di  Hieronimo  Benivieni,  cittadino 
Fiorentino,  sopra  a  piu  sue  Canzone  e  Sonnetti  delta 
amore  e  delta  belleza  divina,"  &c.  printed  at  Flo-, 
re  nee  in  1500,  in  folio:  an  edition  much  prized  by  the 
curious.  Benivieni,  not  less  estimable  for  the  purity  of 
his  manners  than  for  the  extent  of  his  talents,  was  inti- 
mately connected  with  the  celebrated  John  Pico  de  Miran- 

*  Biog.  BriC 
GG   2 


4*2  BENIVIE-NI. 

dola,  aud  made  it  his  request  to  be  interred  in  the  same 
grave  with  him,'  which  was  granted. f  * 

BENN  (William),  a  nonconformist  clergyman  of  Dor- 
setshire, was  born  at  or  near  Egremond,  in  Cumberland, 
Nov.  1600,  and  educated  at  St.  Bees.  Thence  he  entered 
Queen's  cojlege,  Oxford,  Wood  thinks,  as  a  servitor,  but 
left  the  university  without  taking  a  degree,  on  obtaining  a 
presentation  to  the  living  of  Oakingham,  in  Berkshire; 
but  upon  Mr.  Bateman's  having  got  another  presentation 
to  the  same  living,  a  gentleman  who  was  his  contemporary 
at  Oxford,  they  agreed  jointly  to  perform  the  duty,  and 
divide  the  profits,  rather  than  contest  the  matter  at  law. 
Mr.  Benn  became  afterwards  chaplain  to  the  marchioness 
of  Northampton,  with  whom  he  resided  in  Somersetshire, 
leaving  Oakingham  to  Mr.  Bateman.  In  1 629,  the  cele- 
brated Mr.  White,  usually  called  the  patriarch  of  Dorches- 
ter, invited  him  to  that  town,  by  whose  interest  he  ob- 
tained the  rectory  of  All  Saints  ;  and,  excepting  two  years 
that  he  attended  Mr.  White  at  Lambeth,  continued  he te 
until  Bartholomew-day,  when  he  was  ejected  for  noncon- 
formity. Not  satisfied  with  his  constant  labours  in  the 
church,  while  he  held  his  rectory,  he  preached  gratis,  on 
week-days,  to  prisoners  in  the  gaol,  and  the  room  not  be* 
ing  large  enough  for  his  auditory,  he  built  a  chapel  within 
the  prison  limits,  principally  at  his  own  expence.  In  1654, 
he  was  one  of  the  assistants  to  the  commissioners  for  eject- 
ing such  as  were  called  scandalous,  ignorant,  and  insuffi- 
cient ministers,  and  school-masters.  After  his  own  eject- 
ment, he  continued  to  preach  occasionally,  and  was  some- 
times fined  and  imprisoned.  He  died  March  22,  1680, 
and  was  buried  in  All  Saints  church-yard.  Wood  records 
three  particulars  of  him  :  the  first,  that  he  was,  as  already 
mentioned,  assistant  to  the  commissioners,  &c. ;  secondly, 
that  although  he  lived  to  be  eighty,  he  never  used,  spec- 
tacles, and  yet  read  and  wrote  much,  writing  all  his  ser- 
mons as  he  delivered  them ;  and  thirdly,  that  he  prayed 
in  his  study*  seven  times  a  day,  and  commemorated  certain 
deliverances  from  dangers  which  he  had  experienced  on 
certain  days  of  his  life.  His  only  works  were  an  "  Answer 
to  Mr.  Francis  Bamptield's  Letter,  in  vindication  of  the 
Christian  Sabbath  against  the  Jewish,"   Lond.  1672,  8vo; 

*  Diet.  Hist. — Gre*9 well's  Memoirs  of  Politian,  &c. — Tirabo*cbi>  edit  Ma- 
thiatf,  1803. — Ginjueue  Hist.  Litt.  d'ltafie,  vol.  11 1.. p.  550. 


\ 


B  E  N  N.        "  45S 

•  < 

and  a  volume  of  sermons,    on   "Soul  prosperity,"  1683^ 
8vo.'  -; 

BENNET  (Benjamin),  a  dissenting  minister  of  consU 
derable  note  in  the  beginning  of  the  last  century,  was  born 
at  Temple-ball,  in  the  hamlet  of  Whellesburgh  in  Leices- 
tershire, in  1674;  and  educated,  it  is  believed,  at  the 
neighbouring  free-school  of  Market  Bosworth.  After  going 
through  a  course  of  theological  studies,  he  was  first  settled 
as  a  preacher  at  a  meeting-house,  erected  in  1710,  on 
Temple  Farm,  the  place  of  his  nativity,  from  which  he  was 
called  to  succeed  Dr.  Gilpin  at  Newcastle  uponTyne,  where 
he  continued  until  his  death,  Sept.  1,  1726,  exercising  his 
ministerial  functions  with  success  and  popularity,  and  ac- 
quiring a  high  character  among  his  brethren  for  his  talents 
and  piety.  He  wrote  several  books,  1.  "  A  memorial  of  the 
Reformation,"  1721,  8vo,  an  historical  sketch  of  that  event, 
full  of  prejudice  against  the  church  of  England.  2.  "  A  De- 
fence" of  the  same,  1723,  8vo.  3.  "  Discourses  on  Popery/* 
1714,  8vo.  4.  "  Irenicum,  or  a  review  of  some  late  contro- 
versies about  the'Trinity,  &c."  1722,  8vo.  Of  this  work  one* 
of  his  biographers  says,  that,  "  like  many  other  good  men, 
he  was  not  aware  of  the  pernicious  effects  of  Arianism,  and 
entertained  a  more  favourable  idea  of  the  sentiments  of  some 
of  the  dissenting  ministers  than  they  deserved.  The  general 
principles  of  the  book  are  good,  but  not  suitably  applied." 
5.  "  Sermons  on  the  Inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures." 
But  his  most  popular  work,  and  which  has  gone  through 
many  editions,  is  his  "  Christian  Oratory,"  which  the  bio- 
grapher  just  quoted  calls  the  "  Dissenters*  Whole  Duty  of 
Man."  Job  Orton,  a  very  eminent  divine  among  the  dis- 
senters, appears  by  one  of  his  letters,  to  have  read  this 
book  at  least  ten  times.  * 

BENNET  (Christopher),  an  eminent  physician  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  and  a  medical  writer,  was  the  son  of 
John  Bennet  of  Kaynton  in  Somersetshire,  and  became  a 
commoner  of  Lincoln  college  in  Oxford,  in  Michaelmas- 
term,  1632,  being  then  fifteen  years  of  age.  After  he  had 
taken  the  degrees  of  bachelor  and  master  *of  arts,  he  en- 
tered upon  the  study  of  physic,*  but  was  created  doctor  in 
that  faculty  elsewhere.  He  was  afterwards  chosen  a  fel- 
low of  the  college  of  physicians  in  London,  where  he  prac- 

1  Wood's  Ath.  to!.  If. — Hutchins's  Dorsetshire. — Calamy. 
*  Nichols's  Letcefctershii*.-. — Prot.  Dissenter's  Mag.  toI.  \  .« — Bogue  and  Ben* 
net's  Hist,  of  Dissenters,  vol.  Iii. — Orton's  Letters  to  Sicdmaa,  vol.  L  p.  41. 


45*  B  E  N  N  E  T. 

tised  with  great  success.  Dr.  Bennet  died  in  April,  1655, 
and  was -buried  on  the  2d  of  May,  in  St.  Gregory's  church, 
near  St.  Paul's,  in  London.  He  gave  the  public  a  treatise 
on  Consumptions,  entitled  "  Theatri  Tabidorum  Vestibu- 
lum,  &fc."  Lond.  1654,  8vo.  Also  "  Exercitationes  Dia- 
gnostics, cum  historiis  demonstrates,  quibus  alimentorum 
©t  sanguinis  vitia  deteguntur  in  pleriaque  morbis,  &c." 
Our  author  corrected  and  Enlarged  a  book  written  originally 
by  Dr.  Thomas  Moffet,  and  entitled  "Health's  Improve- 
ment, or  rules  comprising  of  discovering  the  nature,  me- 
thod, and  manner  or  preparing  all  sorts  of  food  used  in  this 
nation,"  Lond.  1655,  4to.  Dr.  Bennet  had  one  or  two 
more  pieces  ready  for  the  press  at  the  time  of  his  death. 
Jt  may  be  necessary  to  add  that  in  his  Latin  works,  he  as- 
sumed the  Latinized  name  of  BenedictUs. ' 

BENNET  (Henry),  earl  of  Arlington,  was  descended 
from  an  ancient  family,  and  was  second  son  of  sir  John 
Bennet  of  Arlington  in  Middlesex,  by  Dorothy,  daughter 
of  sir  JoHn  Crofts  of  Saxham  in  the  county  of  Norfolk.  He 
was  born  in  1618,  and  educated  at  Christ-church  in  the 
university  of  Oxford,  where  he  took  the  degree  of  master 
of  arts,  and  distinguished  himself  by  his  poetical  composi- 
tions, several  of  which  were  occasionally  inserted  in  books 
of  verses  published  under  the  name  of  the  university,  and 
in  others  in  that  time.  In  the  beginning  the  civil  war, 
when  king  Charles  I.  fixed  his  chief  residence  at  Oxford, 
he  was  appointed  finder-secretary  to  lord  George  Digby, 
secretary  of  state ;  and  afterwards  entered  himself  as  a 
volunteer  in  the  royal  cause,  and  served  very  bravety,  es- 
pecially at  the  sharp  encounter  near  A ndover  in  Hamp- 
shire, where  he  received  several  wounds.  When  the  wars 
were  ended,  he  did  not  leave  the  king,  when  success  did, 
but  attended  his  interest  in  foreign  parts ;  and,  in  order  to 
qualify  himself  the  better  for  his  majesty's  service,  travelled 
into  Italy,  and  made  his:  observations  on  the  several  coun- 
tries and  siates  of  Europe.  He  was  afterwards  made  secre- 
tary to  James,  duke  of  York,  and  received  the  honour  of 
knighthood  from  king  Charles  II.  at  Bruges  in  March,  1658, 
and  was  soon  after  sent  envoy  to  the  court  of  Spain ;  in 
which  negociation  he  acted  with  so  much  prudence  and 
success,  that  his  majesty,  upon  his  return  to  England,  soon 
called  him  home,  and  made  him  keeper  of  his  privy  purse. 

On  the  2d  of  October,  1662,  he  was  appointed  principal 

. .. 

*  Ath.  Ox.  v61,  II.— Blog.  Dicu 


iENNET.  Vto 

secretary  of  state  in  the  tooth  of  sir  Edward  NicJhotoiis ;  but 
by  this  preferment  some  advances  were  evidently  made 
towards  the  interest  of  Rome ;  since  t!he  new  secretary  was 
one  who  secretly  espoused  the  cause  of  popery,  aj$  had 
much  influenced  the  king  towards  embracirig  that  religioit, 
the  year  before  his  restoration,  at  Fontaiiabia ;  oh  wnicfh 
account  be  had  been  so  touch  threatened  by  lord  Cut- 
pepper,  that  it  was  believed  he  dtirst  not  returti  into  Eng- 
land, till  after  the  death  of  that  nobleman. 

In  March  14,  1€64,  he  was  advanced  to  the  degree  o?a 
baron,  by  the  title  of  Lord  Arlington  of  Arlington  in  Mid- 
dlesex, and  in  1670,  was  one  of  the  cabinet  council,  dis- 
tinguished by  the  title  of  the  Cabdl*,  arid  one  of  thosfe 
ministers,  who  advised  the  shutting  tip  of  the  exchequer. 
April  22,   1672,   he  was   created  viscount  Thetford  arid 
earl  of  Arlington  ;  and  on  the  15th  of  Jiirie  following,  was 
made  knight  of  the  garter.     Orrthe  22d  of  the  same  mplitji 
he  was  sent  to  Utrecht,  with  the  duke  of  Buckingham  and 
lord  Hallifax,  as  ambassadors  extraordinary  and.  jtlenipo- 
tentiaries,  •  to  meet  jointly  with  such    as  should  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  king  of  France*  and  with  the  deputies  froth 
the  States-General*  but  this  negotiation  had  ho  great  ef- 
fect    In  April  1673,  be  was  appointed  orle  of  the  threfe 
plenipotentiaries  from  the  court  df  Gredt  Britain  to  Co- 
logne, in  order  to  mediate  a  peace  between  the  emperor 
and  king  of  France.     Ih  January  following,  the  house  of 
commons  resolving  to  attack  him,  as  well  as  the  dukes  of 
Lauderdale  and  Buckingham,  vvho  were  likewise  members 
of  the  Cabal,  the  last  endeavoured  to  cleatr  himself  by  cast- 
ing all  the  odium  Upon  the  earl  of  Arlingtbrf ;  who  being 
admitted  to  make  hi*  cjefence  in  that  honse;  answered  some 
parts  of  the  duke  of  Buckingham's  speech,  but  Was1  so  far 
from  giving  them  satisfaction  with  regard  to  his  own  con- 
duct, that  they  immfecKa'tely  drew  up  articles  of  impeach- 
ment against  him,  in  Which  he  was  charged  to  have  been  a 
constant  and  vehement  promoter  of  popfery  and  popish 
councils ;  to  have  been  guilty  of  many  undue  practice's  iu 
order  to  promote  his  6Wn  greatness ;  to  have  embezzled 
and  wasted  the  treasure  of  the  nation  ;  arid  to  have  falsely 

*  This  name  mis  composed  of  th*'  ftotii  France,  besides4  what?  was  openly 

initial  letters  of  their  titles*  viz.  CI  if-  given'  thepfc,  ■  The  French  ambassador 

ford,  Ashley  (afterwards  Shaftesbury),  gave  each  of  them  a  picture  of  the 

Buckingham,  Arlington,    Lauderdale,  king:  of"  France,  s&'iii  diamond^  to  the 

They  had  all  of  them  great  presents  vahitfof  3,000* 


45*  B  E  N  N  E  T. 

and  traiterously  betrayed  the  important  trust  reposed  in 
him,  as  a  counsellor  and  principal  secretary  of  state.     Up- 
on this  he  appeared  before  the  house  of  commons,   and 
spoke  much  more  than  was  expected ;  excusing  himself, 
though  without  blaming  the  king.     This  had  so  good  an 
effect,  that  though  he,  as  secretary  of  state,  was  more  ex- 
posed than  any  other,  by  the  many  warrants  and  orders 
which  be  had  signed ;  yet  he  was  acquitted  by  a  small  ma- 
jority.    But  the  care,  which  he  took  to  preserve  himself, 
and  bis  success  in  it,  lost  him  his  high  favour  with  the 
king,  as  the  duke  of  York  was  greatly  offended  with  him ; 
for  which  reason  be  quitted  his  post,  and  was  made  lord 
chamberlain  on  the   J  lth  of  September  1674,  with  this 
public  reason  assigned,  that  it  was  in  recompence  of  his 
long  and  faithful  service,   and  particularly  for  having  per- 
formed the  office  of  principal  secretary- of  state  for  the 
space  of  twelve  years  to  his  majesty's  great  satisfaction. 
But  finding,  that  his  interest  began  sensibly  to  decline, 
while  that  of  the  earl  of  Danby  increased,  who  succeeded 
lord  Clifford  in  the  .office  of  lord  high  treasurer,  which  had 
ever  been  the  height  of  lord  Arlington's  ambition,  he  con- 
ceived an  implacable  hatred  against  that  earl,  and  used  his 
utmost  efforts  to  supplant  him,  though  in  vain.     For,  upon 
his  return  from  his  unsuccessful  journey  to  Holland   in 
.1674-5,  his  credit  was  so  much  sunk,  that  several  persons 
at  court  took  the  liberty  to  mimic  his  person  and  behaviour, 
ad  had  been  formerly  done  against  lord  chancellor  Claren- 
don ;  and  it  became  a  common  jest  for  some  courtier  to 
put  a  black  patch  upon  his  nose,  and  strut  about  with  a 
white  staff  in  his  hand,  in  order  to  divert  the  king.     One 
reason  of  his  majesty's  disgust  to  him.  is  thought  to  have 
been  the  earl's  late  inclining  towards  the  popular  opinions, 
and  especially  his  apparent  zealous  proceedings  against 
the  papists,  while  the  court  knew  him  to  be  of  their  reli- 
gion in  bis  heart.     In  confirmation  of  this  a  remarkable 
story  is  told ;  that  cqI.  Richard  Talbot,  afterwards  earl  of 
Tyrconnel,  having  been  some  time  absent  from  the  court, 
upon  his  return  found  lord  Arlington's  credit  extremely 
low ;  and  seeing  him  one  day  acted  by  a  person  with  a 
patch  and  a  staff,  he  took  occasion  to  expostulate  this  mat- 
ter with  the  king,  with  whom  he  was  very  familiar,  remon- 
strating, how  very  hard  it  was,  that  poor  Harry  Bennet 
should  be  thus  used,  after  he  had  so  long  and  faithfully 
served  his  majesty,  and  followed  him  every  where  in  his 


B  E  N  N  E  T.  45? 

exile.  The  king  hereupon  began  to  complain  too,  de- 
claring what  cause  he  had  to  be  dissatisfied  with  his  con- 
duct, "  who  had  of  late  behaved  himself  after  a  strange 
manner ;  for,  not  content  to  come  to  prayers,  as  others 
did,  he  must  be  constant  at  sacraipents  too."  ""Why," 
said  colonel  Talbot  interrupting,  "  does  not  .your  majesty 
do  the  same  thing  ?"  "  God's  fish,"  replied  the  king  with 
some  warmth,  u  I  hope  there  is  a  difference  between  Harry 
Bennet  and  me."  However,  in  1679,  lord  Arlington  was 
chosen  one  of  the  new  council  to  his  majesty ;  and  upon 
the  accession  of  king  James  II.  to  the  throne,  was  con-, 
firmed  by  him  in  the  office  of  lord  chamberlain.  He  died 
July  28,  1685,  aged  sixty-seven  years,  and  was  interred  at 
Euston  in  Suffolk.  By  his  lady  Isabella,  daughter  of  Lewis 
de  Nassau,  lord  Beverwaert,  he  had  one  only  daughter,  Isa- 
bella, married  to  Henry,  duke  of  Grafton. 

He  was,  according   to   bishop  Burnet,  a  proud  man ; 
and  his  parts  were  solid,  but  not  quick.     He  had  the  art  of 
observing  the  king's  temper,  and  managing  it  beyond  all 
the  men  of  that  time.     He  was  believed  a  papist,  for  he 
had  once  professed  it,  and  at  his  de^th  again  reconciled 
himself  to  the  church  of  Rome.     Yet  in  the  whole  course 
•    of  his  ministry,  he  seemed  to  have  made  it  a  maxim,  that 
the  king  ought  to  shew  no  favour  to  popery,  since  ail  his 
affairs  would  be  ruined,  if  ever  he  turned  that  way  ;  which 
made  the  papists  become  his  mortal  enemies,  and  accuse 
him  as  an  apostate,  and  the   betrayer   of  their  interests. 
His  character  is  drawn  by  Mr.  Macpherson,  in  his  History 
of  Great  Britain,    with  conciseness,    spirit,   and  justice. 
44  Arlington  supplied  the  place  of  extensive  talents  by  an 
artful  management  of  such  as  he  possessed.     Accommo- 
dating in  his  principles,  and  easy  in  his  address,  he  pleased 
when  he  was  known  to  deceive ;  and  his  manner  acquired 
,    to  him  a  kind  of  influence  where  he  commanded  no  re- 
spect.    He  was  little  calculated  for  bold  measures,  on  ac- 
count of  his  natural  timidity ;  and  that  defect  created  an 
opinion  of  his  moderation,  that  was  ascribed   to  virtue. 
His  facility  to  adopt  new  measures  was  forgotten  in  his 
readiness  to  acknowledge  the  errors  of  the  old.     The  de- 
ficiency of  his  integrity  was  forgiven  in  the  decency  of  his 
dishonesty.     Too  weak  not  to  be  superstitious,  jet  pos- 
sessing too  much  sense  to  own  his  adherence  to  the  church 
of  Rome,  he  lived  a  Protestant,  in  his  outward  profession ; 
but  he  died  a  Catholic.     Timidity  was  the  chief  charac* 


ASS  B  :E  N  N  JE  T. 

.teristicof  his  -mind;  and  that  being  known,  be  was 
^cotpmand^d  by  coyvarjs.  He  .was  the  man  of  the  leapt 
.jgeni.us  of  the  .party ;  but  he  had  mast  experience  in  that 
.$lpwapd  constant  current  of  business,  which  perhaps,  suit* 
affairs  of  state  better  than  the  violent  exertionsof  men  ,ef 
^great  parts."  l 
~  w  RENNET  (Sir  John),  <k*ivt  grandfather  to  *he  pre- 
ceding, and  second  son  of  air  Richard  Bennet,  was  created 
oo  the  6th  of  July,  15S9,  doctor  of  laws  by  the  university 
rof  Oxford,  having  been  one  of  the  proctors  there.  He 
was  afterwards  vicar-general  in  spirituals  to  the  archbishop 
of  York,  and  prebendary  of  Langtoft  in  the  church  of 
York.  In  the  24th  of  Eliz.  bearing  the  title  of  doctor  of 
laws,  he  was  in  commission  with  the  lord -keeper  Egerton, 
the  lord -treasurer  Buckhurst,  and  several  other  noblemen, 
for  the  suppression  of  .heresy.  He  was  also  in  tbat  reign 
returned  -to  parliament  for  the  city  of  York,  and  was  a  lead- 
ing giember  of  the  house  of  commons,  as  appears  from 
several  of  his  speeches  in  Townshend's  collections.  He 
received  the  honour  of  knighthood  from  king  James  before 
his  coronation,  on  the  23d  of  July  1603,  at  Whitehall,  and 
was  rnade  in  that  reign  chancellor  to  queen  Anne  (consort 
of  king  Jaines),  judge  of  the  pnerogative  court  of  Canter- 
bury, and  chancellor  to  the  archbishop  of  York.  In  the 
beginning  of  1617,  he  w?,s  sent  ambassador  to  Brussels  to 
question  the  archduke,  in  behalf  of  his  master  the  king  of 
Great  Britain,  concerning  a  libel  written  and  published,  as 
it  was  supposed,  by  Erycius  Puteahus,  but  he  neither  ap- 
prehended the  author,  nor  suppressed  the  book,  until  he 
was  solicited  by  the  king's  agent  there:  he  only  interdicted 
it,  and  suffered  the  author  to  fly  out  of  his  dominions.  In 
1620,  sir  John  Bennet  being  entitled  judge  of  the  prero- 
gative court  of  Canterbury,  was  in  a  special  commission 
with  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  other  noblemen, 
to  p^  in  execution  the  laws*  against  all  heresies,  great 
errors  in  niatters  of  faith  and  religion,  &c. ;  and  the  same 
year  bearing  the  title  of  chancellor  to  the  archbishop  of 
York,  he  was  Qovnuoissioned  with  the  archbishop  of  York, 
and  others,  to  execute  all  manner  of  ecclesiastical  juris- 

*  Biog.  Brit,   a  very  prolix  and  «la-  investigate    bid    lordship's    character 

borate   panegyric  or  defence  of  lord  more    minutely,    must    consult    Dr. 

.   Arlington,  in  gen:  pup  indeed*  but  par-  Campbell's  account  a»  corrected  in  tint 

tial  beyond  all  evidence  of  fart.     We  last  edition  of  the  Biog.  Brit     See  also 

have  preferred  following  Dr.  Birch  *n  the  third  volume  of  Clarendon's  Statt 

tta.  above  sketch.    These  who  wi»h  t*  Papers,  Supplement,  p.  80-r- 84. 


BENNET.  L44» 

.  diction  within  the  province  of  York.  He  died,  in  (ly;  parish 
of  Christ  church  in   London,  in  the  begifming.af  .1627, 
having  had  issue  by  Anne  his  wife,  daughter  ot'  {Christppb£r 
Weekes  of  Salisbury,  in  the  county  oMVilts,, esq.  sir  John 
Bennet,  his  son  and  heir;"sir  Thomas  penne 
'Son,  doctor  of  the"  civil  law,'  and  master  in  c 
Matthew,  thiro*  son,  who  died  unmarried'    .1 
sir  John  Bennet  of  Dawley,  received  the  hop 
hood  in  the  Ii£e-time  of  his  fatherj  at  Thee 
15th  of  June;   1616,     He  married  Dorothj 
sir  John  Crofts  of  Saxbani,  in  the  county  of 
by  whom  he  had  issue  six  sons,  the  second 
afterwards  created  earl  of  Arlington,  '  This  account  drawn 
up  also  by  Dr.  Campbell  as  a  note  to  his. life  of  Arlington, 
partakes  of  the  partiality  of  that  account  by  .suppressing 
that  iri  1621,  certain  malpractices  were  detected  in  the 
judicial  conduct  of  sir  John,  and  lie  was  committed  to  the 
custody  of  the  sheriffs' of  London,  and  afterwards  to  pri- 
son, fined  20,000/.  and  deprived  of  his  offices.     In  conse- 
quence 'of  this,  according  to  Mr.  Lodge,  he  died  in  indi- 
gence and  obscurity^    in  the  parish  of  Christ  church,   iq 
Surrey,  not  in  London,  at  the  time  mentioned  above;  but 
another  account  says  that  he  was  merely  required  to  find 
Security  to  that  amount  for  his  appearance  to  answer  to  the 
charges  brought  against  him.     If  the  fine  was  imposed,  we. 
may  conclude  it  was  remitted ;  for  in  a  letter  from  lord 
Bacon  to  king  Janies,  we  read  these  words,  "  Your  ma- 
jesty hath  pardoned  the  like  (corruption)  to  sir  John  Bon- 
net, between  whose  case  and  mine  (not  being  partial  to 
myself,  but  speaking  out  of  the  general  opinion),  there  watt 
as  much  difference,  I  will  not  say,  as  between  black  and 

-white,  but  as  between  black  and  grey  or  ash-coloured."1 
BENNET  (Robert,  B.  D.)  a  nonconformist  divine,  wa« 
educated  at  Oxford,  and  was  presented  by  lord  Wharton 
to  the  rectory  of  Waddesdeh  in  the  county  of  Bucking- 
ham, where  he  continued  till  he  was  ejected  for  noncon- 
formity in  1662.  He  afterwards  settled  at  Aylesbury, 
where  he  preached  privately  to  a  'small  congregation,  and 
from  thence  removed  to  Abingtoh,  where  he  died  April  6, 
1687.  He  was  author  of  an  excellent  work,  entitled  "A 
theological  Concordance  of  the  synonymous  words  io, 
ScrirJtore,"  1657,  8vo.* 


460  B  E  N  N  E  T. 

BENNET  (Dr.  Thomas),  an  eminent  divine  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  was  born  at  Salisbury,  May  75  1673, 
and  educated  in  the  free-school  there  ;  where  he  made  so 
great  a  progress  in  learning,  that  he  was  sent  to  St.  John's 
college,  Cambridge,  in  the  beginning  of  1688,  before  he 
was  full  fifteen  years  of  age.  He  regularly  took  the  de- 
grees of  bachelor  and  master  of  arts;  the  latter  in  1694, 
wheu  but  twenty-one  years  old  ;  and  was  chosen  fellow  of 
his  college.  In  1695,  he  wrote  a  copy  of  Hebrew  verses 
on  the  death  of  queen  Mary,  printed  in  the  collection  of 
poems  of  the  university  of  Cambridge  upon  that  occasion. 
The  first  of  his  publications  was  "  An  answer  to  the  dis- 
senters pleas  for  Separation,'or  an  abridgment  of  the  Lon- 
don cases ;  wherein  the  substance  of  those  books  is  digest- 
ed into  one  short  and  plain  discourse,"  Lond.  1699,  8vo. 
About  the  end  of  1700,  he  took  a  journey  to  Colchester, 
to  visit  his  friend  Mr.  John  Rayne,  rector  of  St.  James's  in 
Colchester ;  and  finding  him  dead  when  he  came,  he  un- 
dertook the  office  of  preaching  his  funeral  sermon,  which 
was  so  highly  approved  of  by  the  parishioners,  that  their 
recon inundation  was  no  small  inducement  to  Dr.  Compton, 
then  bishop  of  London,  to  present  him  to  that  living.  He 
had  institution  to  it  January  15,  1700-1,  and  applied  him* 
self  with  great  diligence  and  success  to  the  several  duties 
of  his  function-  Possessing  great  learning,  a  strong 
voice,  and  good  elocution,  he  was  extremely  followed  and 
admired ;  and  the  more,  as  most  of  the  other  livings  were 
but  indifferently  provided  for  :  so  that  he  became  minister, 
not  only  of  his  owp  two  parishes,  but  in  a  manner  of  that 
whole  town,  and  the  subscriptions  and  presents  he  had  from 
all  parts,  raised  his  income  to  nearly  three  hundred  pounds 
a  year.  But  that  afterwards  was  very  much  reduced,  as 
will  appear  in  the  sequel.  In  the  beginning  of  1701,  he 
published  li  A  confutation  of  Popery,  in  three  parts," 
Cambr.  8vo.  About  the  same  time,  he  was  engaged  in 
a  controversy  with  some  dissenters,  which  produced 
the  following  book  of  his,  "  A  discourse  of  Schism ; 
shewing,  1 .  What  is  meant  by  schism.  2.  That  schism  is 
a  damnable  sin.  3.  That  there  is  a  schism  between  the 
established  church  of  England  and  the  dissenters.  4.  That 
this  schism  is  to  be  charged  on  the  dissenters'  side.  5.  That 
the  modern  pretences  of  toleration,  agreement  in  funda- 
mentals, &c.  will  not  excuse  the  dissenters  from  being 
guilty  of  schism.     Written  by  way  of  letter  to  three  dis- 


B.ENNET,  4dt 

senting  ministers  in  Essex,  viz.  Mr.  Gilson  and  Mr.  Gled- 
hill  of  Colchester,  and  Mr.  Shepherd   of  Braintree.     To 
which  is  annexed,  an  answer  to  a  book  entitled  "  Thomas 
against  Bennet,  or  the  Protestant  dissenters  vindicated  from 
the  charge   of  schism,"    Cambr.   1702,  8vo.     This  book 
being   animadverted   upon  by  Mr.  Shepherd,  our  author 
published   "  A  defence  of  the  discourse  of  Schism ;    in 
answer  to  those  objections  which  Mr.  Shepherd  has  made  in 
his  three  sermons  of  Separation,  &c."   Cambr.  1703,   8vo. 
And,  towards  the  end  of  the  same  year,   "  An  answer  to 
Mr.  Shepherd's  considerations  on  the  defence  of  the  dis- 
course of  Schism,"  Cambr.  8vo.    As  also  a  treatise  entitled 
€t  Devotions,  viz.  Confessions,  Petitions,  Intercessions,  and 
Thanksgivings,  for  every  day  in  the  week ;  and  also  before, 
at,  and  after,  the  Sacrament ;  with  occasional  prayers  for 
all  persons  whatsoever,"  8vo.     In  1705,  he  published  "A 
confutation  of  Quakerism;  or  a  plain  proof  of  the  false- 
hood of   what  the   principal   Quaker  writers    (especially 
Mr.  R.  Barclay,   in   his   Apology    and   other   works)    do 
teach  concerning  the  necessity  of  immediate  revelation 
in  order  to   a   saving  Christian  faith,  &c."   Cambr.  8vo. 
In  1707  he  caused  to  be  printed  in   a  small  pamphlet, 
12 mo,  "  A  discourse  on  the  necessity  of  being  baptized 
with  Water  and  receiving  the  Lord's  Supper,  taken  out  of 
the  confutation  of  Quakerism,"  Cambr.     For  the  sake  of 
those  who  wanted  either  money  to  purchase,  or  time  to  per- 
use, the  Confutation  of  Quakerism,  the  year  following  he 
published  "  A  brief  history  of  the  joint  use  of  precom- 
posed  set  forms  of  Prayer,"  Cambr.  8vo.     The  same  year 
he   published   likewise    "  A  discourse  of  joint  Prayer," 
Cambr.  8vo.     Towards  the  end  of  the  same  year  he  pub- 
lished "  A  paraphrase  with  annotations  upon  the  book  of 
Common  Prayer,  wherein  the  text  is  explained,  objections 
are  answered,  and  advice  is  humbly  offered,  both  to  th& 
clergy  and  the  laity,  for  promoting  true  devotion  in  the  use 
of  it,"  Lond.  8vo.     The  next  thing  he  printed  was  u  Cha- 
rity Schools  recommended,  in  a  sermon  preached  in  St. 
James's  church  in  Colchester,  on  Sunday,  March  26,  1710," 
8vo.     The  same  year  he  wrote  "  A  letter  to  Mr.  B.  Robin- 
gon,  occasioned  by  his  c  Review  of  the  case  of  Liturgies, 
and  their  imposition' ;"  and  "  A  second  letter  to  Mr.  B. 
Robinson,  &c.  on  the  same  subject,"  Lond.  1710,  8vo.     Ir. 
171 1  he  published  "  The  rightsof  the  Clergy  of  the  Christ- 
ian church;  or,  a  discourse  shewing  that  God  has  given  and 


465*  B1  E  N  N  E  t. 

ap|yrb^ri*attd>{to  the  clergy;  authority  to  ordajn,  baptize, 
preach^pi-fesideln^chijrch-prayer,  and  consecrate  the  Lord's 
sapped'  VVh^refrf  also  the  pretended  diVine  right  of  the. 
\dSxy\6  fclcfct  either  the  persons  to  he  ordained,or  their  own 
particular  pastors,  is  examined  and  disproved,"  London, 
1711,  8vo.  Hehad  begun  a  second  part  of  this. work,  but, 
ft  was  never  published,  in  which  he  intended  to  shew,  that, 
the  clergy  are,  under  Christ,  the  sole  spiritual  governors  of 
tne'Christfah  church,  and' that  God  has  given  and  appro- 
priated to  them  authority  to  enact  laws,  determine  contro- 
versies, inflict  censures,' and  absolve  from  them.  The  pre- 
tended 'divine' institution  of  lay  elders  was  j&lsd  disproved* 
and  the  succession  of  the  present  clergy  of  the  established 
churfch  vindicated.  And  to  this  was  annexed  a  "Discourse 
of*  the'  Independency  of  the  Church  on  the  State,  with  an 
account  of  the  sense  of  our  fenglish  latvs,  arid  the  judgment 
of  archb&Hop'  CVarimer  touching  that  point/'  About  this 
tim£  he  took  the  degree  of  D.D.  In  1714  Tie  published 
"  Directions  for  studying,  1.  A  general  system  or  body  of 
'divinity;  II.  The  thirty-nine  articles  of  religion.  To  which 
is  added  St.  Jeromes  epistle  to  Nepotianus,"  London,  8you 
The  yeairfollbwingVas  published  his  "  Essay  ori^the  thir- 
ty-nine £rHcles' of  Keligiqh/a^^  1 562,  and  revised  , 
in  1 571,  wherein  (the' text'  being  iftrst  exhibited  in  Latin 
and  English,  and  the  imnutest  variations  of  eighteen  the 
most  anciferit  arid  authentic  copies  Carefully  noted)  an  ac- 
count is  given  of  the  proceedings  of  convocation  in  framing 
and  seltling'the  text' of  the  articles,  the  controverted  clause 
ofthe  twentieth  article  is  demonstrated  to  be  genuine,  and 
the  case  of  subscription  to  the  articles  is  considered  in  point 
of -law,  history,*  arid  conscience ;  with  a  prefatory  epistle  to 
Arithony  Collins,  esq.' wherein  the  egregious  falsehoods  and 
calumnies  of  the  author  of  *  Priestcraft  in  perfection,'  are  . 
exposed,"  London,  1713,  8vb.  Before  the  publication  of 
this  book,  he  fouiid:  it  necessary  to  leave  Colchester;  for,t 
the  othefr'  livings'  beitig'filled  up  with  persons  of  good  repu- 
tation and  learning,  his  large  congregation  and  subscrip- 
tionsv>fell  off,  'arid  his  income 'fell  to  threescore  pounds  a- 
year^  6ti  which  account,  by  the  advice  of  his  friends,  he. 
accepted  the  place  of  deputy-chaplain  to  Chelsea  hospital, 
under  Dr.  Cannon.  Soon  after,  preaching  the  funeral  ser- 
mon of  *his  friend  Mr.  Erington,  lecturer  of  St.  Olave's  in 
South  vtfark,  it  was  so  highly  approved  of  by  that  parish, 
that  he  was  qniriimfcasly  chosen  lecturer  in  the  next  vestry, 


BENNET,  4..6S-' 

without  the 'least  canvassing*     Upon  that  he  entirely  left 
Colchester,  in  January  1715-16,  and  fixed  himself  in  Lon^ 
do^  where  he  was  likewise  appointed  morning  preacher  at 
St..  Lawrence  Jewry,  under  Dr.  Mapletoft.      In  1716  hec 
published. a  pamphlet  entitled  "  The  Nonjuror's  separation ; 
from;  the  public  assemblies  of  the.  church  of  England  ex- 
amined,  and  proved  to  be  schismatical  upon  their  owft* 
principles,?'  London,   8vo.     And  "The  case  of  the' Re- 
formed Episcopal  Churches  in  Great  Poland  and  Polish'. 
Prussia,  considered  in  a  sermon  preached  on  Sunday,  No- 
vember 18,  1716,  at  St.  Lawrence- Jewry,  London,  in  the 
morning,  and  St.  Olave's,   Southwark,  in  the  afternoon," 
London,  8vo.     Soon  after,  he  was  presented  by  the  deaa 
and. chapter  of  St.  Paul's,  to  the, vicarage  of  St.  Giles's, 
Cripplegate,   London,  which  afforded  him  a  plentiful  in- 
come of  nearly  five  hundred  pounds  a-year.     But  he  had  ; 
little  quiet  enjoyment  of  it;   for,  endeavouring  to  recover* 
some. dues  that  unquestionably  belonged  to  that  church, 
he  was  obliged  to  engage  in  tedious  law-suits,-  which,  be- 
sides the  immense  charges  they  were  attended  withal,  gave  ' 
him  a  great  deal  of  vexation  and  uneasiness,  and  very  much 
embittered  his  spirits;   however,  he  recovered  a  hundred' 
and*  fifty  pounds  a-year  to  that  living.     After  he  was  settled 
init,  in  1717,  he  married  Mrs,  Elizabeth  Hunt  of  Salisbury, 
a  gentlewoman  of  great  meritj   and  by  her  he  had  three  * 
daughters.     The  same  year  he  published  "  A  Spital  ser- 
*non  preached  before  the  lord  mayor^  aldermen,    &c.  of 
London,  in  St.  Bridget's  church,  on  April  24,  1717,"  Lon- 
don, 8vo;  and  in  1718,  "  A  discourse  of  the  ever-blessed 
Trinity  in  Unity,  with  an  examination  of  Dr.  Clarke's  Scrip- 
ture doctrine  of  the  Trinity,"  London,  8vo.     But,  from  this- 
tine,  the  care  of  his  large  parish,  and  other  affairs,  so  en- 
grossed his  thoughts,  that  he  had  no  time  to  undertake  any 
new  work,  except  an  Hebrew  grammar,  which  was  pub- 
lished at  London  in  1726,  8vo,  and  is  reckoned  one  of  the 
best  of  the  kind.     He  mentions,  indeed,  in  one  of  his  books 
written  about  1716,  that  he  had  then  fc  several  tasks"  in 
bis  hands,  "  which  would  find  him  full  employment  for  ' 
many  years;"  but  whatever  they  might  be,  none  of  them  * 
were  ever  finished  or  made  public.     He  died  of  an  apo- 
plexy, at  London,  October  9th,   1728,  aged  fifty- five  years, 
five  months,  and  two  days,  and  was  buried  in  his    own 
church.. 
-  £i  to  his  person,  Dr.  Beflnet  was  tall*  and   of  a  strong 


46*  BENNET. 

m 

and  robust  constitution.  He  was  a  man  of  strong  passions, 
and  not  without  haughtiness,  but  of  very  great  integrity. 
With  regard  to  his  learning,  he  was  a  perfect  master  of  the 
Eastern  and  other  learned  languages,  well  skilled  in  con- 
troversy, and  an  able  champion  for  the  church  of  England. 
Few  scholars  have  equalled  him  as  an  exact  reasoner,  and 
*n  accurate  textuary,  and  though  he  bad  an  uncommon 
share  of  knowledge  in  various  kinds  of  learning,  he  wisely 
gave  himself  up  to  the  improvement  of  those  talents  in 
which  his  chief  excellence  lay.  One  of  his  antagonists, 
Mr.  Emlyn,  does  not  scruple  to  own,  that  he  could  .truly 
esteem  and  respect  him  for  his  valuable  abilities,  for  hisior 
dustrious  application  of  mind  to  an  examination  and  inquiry 
into  the  important  matters  of  our  Christian  religion,  and  for 
divers  other  worthy  qualities,  particularly  for  his  candour 
and  civility,  and  for  his  resolute  contempt  of  those  false  to* 
pics  of  persuasion,  by  which,  ignorant  and  degenerate 
minds  are  led  into  error,  viz.  human  decisions,  by  councils 
or  churches*  authority,  when  their  judgment  is  not  agree* 
able  to  the  holy  scriptures,  in  which  case  he  speaks  as  if  he 
had  the  courage  and  honesty  to  oppose  the  most  triumph- 
ant errors  of  the  age.  Finally,  he  declares. he  esteemed 
him  for  his  zealous  profession  of  integrity,  and  exciting 
others  to  acthonestly  and  openly  according  to  their  judg- 
ments, and  not  to  use  arts  of  disguise  and  hypocrisy  in  sa- 
cred matters. 

Dr.  Bennet  was  undoubtedly  a  divine  of  eminent  piety 
and  distinguished  learning.  The  zeal  and  diligence  with 
which  he  engaged  in  the  studies  and  duties  of  his  profes- 
sion were  hignly  cdromehdable,  and  shew  that  h<*  had  no 
conception  that  the  life  of  a  clergyman  was  to  be  an  idle  or 
trifling  life.  Several  of  his  works,  however,  being  upon 
subjects  of  temporary  controversy,  are,  we  apprehend,  not 
much  read  at  present.  This  will  ever  be  the  case  when 
disputes  turn  upon  matters  which  are  not  of  lasting  import- 
ance, or  upon  some  trivial  circumstances  in  questions, 
otherwise  momentous,  and  it  will  especially  be  the  case, 
when  a  man  of  abilities  has  to  contend  with  insufficient  ad- 
versaries. Dr.  Kippis  remembered  being  told,  in  his. 
youth,  by  Dr.  Doddridge,  that  the  dissenting  ministers,  in 
and  near  Colchester,  who  endeavoured  to  answer  Dr.  Ben- 
net,  and  particularly  Mr.  Shepherd,  were  persons  of  very 
mean  talents.  The  doctor,  in  some  of  his  subsequent  writ- 
ings, met  with  far  abler  antagonists. 


fl 


B  E  N  N  E  T.  46* 

^be' cjoestion  concerning  schism  was  deemed  of  great 
importance  during  the  last  century,  and  in  the  beginning 
of  the  present.  The  Papists  charged  this  crime  upon  the 
Protestants,  and  the  members  of  the  church  of  England 
upon  the  Dissenters.  A  copcise  and  rational  account  of 
the  general  controversy  with  regard  to  schism,  and  of  t^je 
variations  and  inconsistencies  to  which  it  hath  given  rise, 
would  be  no  incurious  subject  in  the  history  of  theological 
literature.  ' 

Dr.  Bennet  was  perhaps  too  ready  to  engage  in  the  de- 
bates of  his  time,  upon  questions  of  divinity,  which  led  him 
sometimes  into  difficulties,  obliged  him  to  have  recourse  to 
distinctions  and  refinements  which  would  not  always  bear 
examination,  and  laid  him  open  to  the  attacks  of  his  ad- 
versaries. Of  all  the  doctor's  controversial  pieces,  those  on 
the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  and  on  subscription  to  the  ar- 
ticles of  the  church  of  England,  have  been  the  most 
brought  into  view  in  the  present  age.  .  This  is  owing  to 
these  subjects  being  still  eagerly  debated,  and  on  account 
t)f  their  acknowledged  importance,  will  probably  long 
continue  to  be  debated.  Dr.  Bennet's  explication  of 
the  Trinity  is  singular ;  and  it  would  require  much  logical 
nicety  to  defend  it  from  that  heterodoxy  which  the  learn- 
ed author  not  only  wished  to  avoid,  but,  no  doubt,  sin* 
cerely  abhorred.  This  was  an  unfortunate  circumstance 
in  a  man  who,  in  another  work,  bad  employed  himself  in 
vindicating  the  Athanasian  creed.  However,  he  was  but 
in  the  same  case  with  many  other  eminent  and  learned  di- 
vines, who,  while  they  have  imagined  that  they  were  de- 
fending Athanasianism,  have,  in  fact,  run  into  Sabellianisai 
or  Socinianism. 

It  is  mnch  to  the  honour  both  of  Dr.  Bennet  and  bishop 
Hoadty,  that  the  latter  contributed  to  the  preferment  of  the 
former.  Few  persons  could  be  more  different  in  then*  the* 
ologicat  and  other  sentiments.  Dr.  Bennet's  character, 
therefore,  must  have  been  very  excellent  to  excite  such  an 
instance  of  regard  in  Dr.  Hoadly;  and  the  bishop's  candour 
and  liberality  of  mind  must  have  been  equally  laudable,  iu 
overlooking  the  hiost  striking  disparity  of  opinions.  * 

BENNING  (John  Bodrcher),  was  born  in  the  village 
pf  Loosdrecht,  about  1 606,  and  had  scarcely  reached  his 
twenty-third  year,  when  his  talents  recommended  him  to  a 

*  Bio j.  Brit,  bat  perhaps  more  full  in  the  Geo.  Diet. 

Vol.  IV.  Hh 


4S6  BENNING. 

professorship  in  the  university  of  Leyden,  where  he  died 
1642,  in  the  thirty-sixth  year  of  his  age.  His  works, 
printed  at  Leyden  in  1631,  12  mo,  contain  a  satire  on  the 
manners  of  youth,  a  little  too  highly  coloured  in  some  parts; 
some  Latin  poetical  addresses  to  his  learned  contempora- 
ries ;  and  several  Latin  poems,  which  were  reprinted  at 
Leyden  in  1637,  12  mo,  under  the  title  of  "Joan  Bodecheri 
Benningii  poemata,"  4to.  He  was  also  author  of  "  Disser- 
tatio  epistolica  de  philosophise  et  poetices  studiis  conjun- 
gendis,"  which  is  printed  with  the  preceding.    . 

Another  Benning  or  Benningius  (John),  president  of 
the  provincial  court  of  Luxemburgh,  and  who  died  Jan. 
30,  1638,  wrote  a  history  of  the  duchy  of  Luxernburgh, 
which  has  not  been  printed.  * 

BEN N  ON,  or  BENNO,  a  writer  of  the  eleventh  centu- 
ry, was  created  a  cardinal  by  the  anti-pope  Guibert,  who 
assumed  the  name  of  Clement  III.  Benno,  who  was  one 
of  his  mosjt  zealpus  partisans,  made  many  attacks  on  the 
popes,  accusing  Sylvester  IL  of  magic,  Gregory  VI.  of 
simony,  &c.  and  wrote,  under  the  title  of  a  "  Life  of  Gre- 
gory VII."  a  bitter  satire  against  that  pontiff.  He  died, 
about  the  close  of  the  eleventh  century.  His  life  of  Gre* 
gory  was  printed  in  the  "  Fasciculus  rerum  Expetendarurja 
et  Fugiendarum,"  1535,  by  Gratius,  and  in  a  collection  of 
pieces,  in  favour  of  the  emperor  Henry  IV.  against  Grego- 
ry, published  by  Goldastus.  * 

BENOIT  (Euas),  the  son  of  a  Calvinist,  who  was  keep- 
er of  the  hotel  de  la  Tremouille,  was  born  in  1640„  In  his 
youth  he  appears  not  to  have  been  exempt  from  dissipa- 
tion, but  the  love  of  study  predominated,  and  after  the  re- 
gular course  he  was  chosen  minister  of  Aiencon.  While 
there,  he  had  a  dispute  with  father  Larue,  a  Jesuit,  on  the 
pretended  falsifications  in  the  Geneva  translation  of  the 
Bible,  and  the  celebrated  Huet  took  his  part  so  far  as  to 
blame  the  intemperance  of  this  Jesuit.  The  letters  which 
passed  on  this  occasion  may  be  seen  in  the  first  volume  of 
a  collection  published  by  the  abbe*  Ttlladet.  On  the  revo- 
cation of  the  edict  of  Nantes,  Benoit  went  to  Delft,  and 
became  minister  of  the  Walloon  church,  in  which  situation 
he  remained  until  his  death  in  1728.  Much  of  this  long 
life  was  embittered  by  his  marrying  a  woman  of  a  mean, 
sordid,  and  irritable  temper,  and  some  part  of  it  was  di$- 

1  Biog.  Universelle.— Moreri. — Foppen,  BibL  Bdf .  in  Bodedttr. 
*  Moreri.— Dupin,— Cave,  vol.  II. 


VB  E-N*OI:T«     •.  m* 

turbed  by  controversy.  Besides  the  dispute  already  men- 
tioned, he  had  another  with  Jacquelot,  respecting  the  union 
of  the  two  churches;  one. like  wise  with  Le  Clerc,  on  the 
first  chapter  of  the  gospel  of  St.  John,  and  one  with  Vap 
ider  Honert,  op  the  style  of  the  New  Testament*  His  prin- 
cipal works  were,  1.  "  Histoire  de.l'edit  de  Nantes,'* 
Delft,  1693 — 95,  5  vols.  4tp.  2.  "  Histoire  et  Apologie 
de  la  retraite  des  pasteurs  a  cause  de  la  persecution/9 
Francfort,  1687,  12mo.  3.  "  Defense"  of  this  apology 
against  d'Artis,  ibid.  1688,  12mo.  4.  u  Melanges  de  re- 
marques  critiques,  historiques,  philosophiques,  et  theolo- 
giques,"  against  some  of  Toland's  writings,  Delft,  1712, 
8vo.    5.  "  Sermons  et  des  Lettres." l 

BENOZZO  GOZZOLI.  See  GOZZOLI. 

BEN3ERADE  (Isaac  de),  a  French  poet  and  wit  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  was  born  at  Lyons-la-Foret,  a 
small  town  in  Upper  Normandy,  in  1612.  He  was  born 
but  not  educated  a  Protestant,  his  father  having  turned 
Catholic  when  he  was  very  young ;  and  when  about  seven 
or  eight  years  of  age,  he.  went  to  be  confirmed,  the  bishop 
who  performed  the  ceremony  asked  him  "  if  he  was  not 
willing  to  change  his  name  of  Isaac  for  one  more  Christian." 
w  With  all  my  heart,"  replied  he,  "  provided  I  get  any 
thing  by  the  exchange."  The  bishop,  surprized  at  sucfi 
a  ready  answer,  would  not  change  his  name.  "  Let  his 
name  be  Isaac  still,"  said  he,  "for  whatever  it  is,  he  will 
make  the  most  of  it."  Benserade  lost  his  father  when  he 
was  very  young ;  and  being  left  with  little  fortune,  and 
this  much  involved  in  law,  he  chose  rather  to  give  it  up 
than  sue  for  it.  His  mother's  name,  however,  being  La- 
porte,  he  claimed  relationship  to  the  cardinal  Richelieu, 
who  without  examining  too  nicely  into  the  matter,  had  him 
educated,  and  would  have  provided  for  him  in  the  church 
if  he  had  not  preferred  the  court,  where  he  soon  became 
famous  for  his  wit  and  poetry  ;  and  Richelieu  granted  hint 
a  pension,  which  was  continued  till  the  defcth  of  this  car- 
dinal. *  It  is  probable  that  Benserade  would  have  found  the 
same  protection  in  the  duchess  of  Aiguillon,  if  the  follow- 
ing four  verses,  which  he  had  made  on  the  death  of  the 
cardinal,  had  not  given  her  great  offence : 

1  Biog.  Unhrecsellc.-— Saxii  Onomasticon,  in  Benedict;  but  a  more  fall  ac- 
count from  materials  drawn  up  by  himself  is  in  Chaufepie. 

H  H  2 


«6S  BENSERADE. 

«  1 1*  ■._........'.:.• 

.    *Cy  giiti  wui  ftit,  par  U  mort-bleu,  Here  ties ,  alas  f  Hit  trua, 

vf  J>  atfiual  de  Richelieu  ;  ,  .  Good  cardinal  de  Richeli«u : 

jEt  oe  qui  omose  moo  ennojr,  But  what  in  truth  disturbs  me  most, , 

Ma'penskm  avec  luy.1'  Is,  that  with  htm  my  pens'ioo**  lost. 

.After  the  death  of  Richelieu,  he  got  into  favour  witi> 
the  duke  de  Brezi,  another  maternal  relation  whom  he 
plained,  and  whom  he  accompanied  in  most  of  his  expe* 
ditions.  When  this  nobleman  died,  he  returned  to  court, 
where  his  poetry  became  highly  esteemed ;  and  he  obr 
tained  of  the  cardinal  Mazarin  several  pensions  on  eccle- 
siastical benefices,  which,  joined  to  the  presents  he  received 
from  the  queen  dowager  and  some  rich  and  liberal  ladies, 
amounted  to  an  income  of  twelve  thousand  livres*  and  en- 
abled  him  to  keep  a  carriage,  a  species  of  luxury  then  un- 
known to  poets. 

We  are  told  in  one  of  Costar's  letters  to  the  marchioness 
de  Lavardin,  that  Benserade  was  named  envoy  to  Christina, 
queen  of  Sweden ;  but  he  never  went  on  this  employment, 
and  hence  the  humorous  Scarron  thus  dates  an  epistle  of 
his  to  the  countess  de  Fiesque : 

"  L'an  que  la  Sieur  de  Benserade 
N'alla  point  &  son  ambassade,'* 

•  Benserade  had  surprising  success  in  what  he  composed 
for  th£  court  dramatic  entertainment*.  There  was  an 
original  turn  in  them  which  characterised  at  once  the  po- 
etical divinities,  and  the  persons  who  represented  them. 
u  With  the  description  of  the  gods  add  other  personages," 
says  the  author  of  the  "  Recueil  de  bons  contes,"  sup. 
gwsed  to  be  M.  deCalltere,  "  who  were  represented  in 
thesfe  interludes,  he  mixed  lively  pictures  of  the  courtiers 
who  represented  thesa,  discovering  their  inclinations,  at- 
tachments, and  even  their  most  secret  adventures ;  but  in 
a  manner  so  agreeable,  and  delicate,  that  those  who  were 
rallied  were  pleased,  and  his  jests  left  no  resentment  or 
concern  in  their  minds."  The  sonnet  which  Benserade 
sent  to  a  young  lady,  with  his  paraphrase  on  Job,  implying 
that  Job  could  reveal  his  .griefs,  but  be  was  obliged  to 
suffer  in  silence,  rendered  his  name  very  famous..  A  pa- 
rallel was  drawn  betwixt  it  and  the  Urania  of  Voiture;  and 
a.  dispute  thence  arose,  which  divided  the.  wits,  and  the 
whole  court  Those  who  gave  the  preference  to  that  of 
*'  Benserade  were  styled  the  Jobists,  and  their  antagonists 
the  iJranists.  The  prince  of  Conti  declared  himself  a 
~  Jobist;   and   the   duchess"  da   Longueville,    an   Uranism 


V-* 


B  I  N  S  £  R  A  IJ  £     '  1& 

Benserade  wrote  rondeaus  upon  Ovid,  some  of  which  *re 
reckoned  tolerable,  but  upon  the  whole  the  Attempt  wa* 
too  absurd  for  serious  approbation ;  and  his  Ovid,  without 
#  occasioning  any  controversy,  dropt  into  oblivion  almost  ai 
soon  as  it  was  published,  although  it  appeared  in  a  highly 
ornamented  4to,  printed  at  Paris,  1676,  with  engraving* 
to  the  expence  of  which  the  king  contributed  10,000  Kvres; 
So  much  was  he  attached  to  the  rondeau,  that  his  'preface 
and  even  his  errata  are  in  the  same  species  of  composition. 
The  latter  is  perhaps  the  best  of  the  whole;  as  he  can* 
didly  acknowledges  that  he  can  discover  but  two  errors  of 
any  consequence,  viz.  the  plan  and  the  execution : 

"  Pour  moi,  parmi  des  fautes  innombrables, 
Je  n'en  connois  que  deux  considerables, 
Et  cfcntje  fids  ma  declaration, 
C'est  1'entetprize  et  rexecution : 
.   !&UQonavis  fautes  irreparable! 
i\      Dans  ce  volume/' . 

Olivet,  however,  remarks  that  the  execution  is  not  worse 
than  that  of  the  author's  works  in  general ;  but  the  age  of 
point  and  antithesis  was  gone  before  the  rondeaus  appeared, 
and  a  better  taste  was  beginning  to  prevail*  Some  fables 
in  the  same  style  were  Benserade' s  last  work  of  the  amusing 
kind.  Disgusted  with  the  world,  which  he  no .  longer 
pleased,  he  withdrew  from  court,  and  made  Gentilly  the 
place  of  his  retirement.  Olivet  says  that  when  he  was  a 
youth,  it  was  the  custom  to  visit  the  remains  of  the  orna- 
ments with,  which  Benserade  had  embellished  his  house 
and  gardens,  where  everything  savoured  of  his  poetical 
genius.  The  barks  of  the  trees  were  full  of  inscriptions, 
and  Dr.  Johnson  has  translated  the  lilies  "  a  son  lit/9 

"  Theatre  des  ris,  et  des  pleura,  '&c." 

"In  bed  we  laugh,  in  bed  we  ciy, 
And  born  in  bed,  in  bed  we  die : 
The  near  approach  a  bed  may  show 

Of  human  bliss  to  human  wde." 

•  - 

Mr.  Voltaire  is  of  opinion  that  these  inscriptions  were 
the  best  of  his  productions,  and  he  regrets  that  they  have 
not  been  collected.  Benserade  suffered  at  last  so  much 
from  the.  stone,  that,  notwithstanding  his. great  age,  he 
resolved  to  submit  to  the  operation  of  cutting.  But  his 
constancy  was  not  put  to  this  last  proof,  for  a  surgeon  leu 
ting  him  blood  by  way  of  precaution,  pricked  an  artery, 


>> 


«7<*  BEN  S.  ER  A  D  E; 

and,  instead  of  endeavouring  to  stop  the  effusion  of  blood, 
ran  away :  F.  Commire,  bis  friend  and  confessor,  was  called 
in*  who  arrived  in  time  to  witness  bis  death,  Oct.  19,  1691* 
He  had  been  a  member  of  the  French  academy  from  1674. 
Pascal  says  he  was  the  repeater  of  many  bad  bons^-mots,* 
and  those  which  his  biographers  have  recorded  are  certainly 
of  that  description.  His  theatrical  pieces,  Cleopatra,  the 
death  of  Achilles,  &c.  were  printed  singly  from  1636  to 
1641,  4to>  but  his  whole  works,  including  a  selection 
from  bis  rondeaus  taken  from  Ovid,  were  printed  at  Paris/ 
£637,  2  vols.  12m©.1 

BENSON  (George),  a  learned  and  eminent  dissenting. 
teacher,  was  born  at  Great  Salkeld,  in  Cumberland,  Sep- 
tember 1699.  He  was  early  destined  by  his  parents  for 
the  ministry,  on  account  of  the  seriousness  of  his  dispo- 
sition and  his  love  of  learning ;  whicb  was  so  strong  and 
successful,  that  at  eleven  years  of  age  he  was  able  to  read 
the  Greek  testament.  After  finishing  his  grammar  learn- 
ing, be  went  to  an  academy  kept  by  Dr.  Dixon  at  White- 
haven, from  whence  he  removed  to  Glasgow  ;  where,  with 
great  application  and  success,  be  pursued  bis  studies  until 
$fay  1721,  when  he  left  the  university.  Towards  the 
elose  of  the  year  he  came  to  London ;  and  having  been 
examined  and  approved  by  several  of  the  most  eminent 
presbyterian  ministers,  he  began  to  preach ;  first  at  Chert- 
sey,  and  afterwards  in  London.  The  learned  Dr.  Calamy, 
who  was  his  great  friend,  and  kindly  took  him  for  a  time 
into, his  family,  recommended  bim  to  go  to  Abingdon  in 
Berkshire ;  where,  after  preaching  as  a  candidate,  he  was 
unanimously  chosen  their  pastor,  by  the  congregation  of 
protestant  dissenters  in  that  town*  During  his  stay  here* 
which  was  about  seven  years,  he  preached  and  published 
three  serious  practical  discourses,  addressed  to  young  per- 
sons, which  were  well  received.  But  be  afterwards  sup- 
pressed them,  as  not  containing  what  he  thought  on  further 
inquiry  the  exact  truth,  in  relation  to  some  doctrines  of 
Christianity.  He  had  been  educated  a  Calvinist,  but  wa^ 
ftow,  like  many  of  his  brethren,  receding  from  those  prin- 
ciples. In  1729  he  received  a  call  from  a  society  of  pro- 
testant dissenters  in  South wark,  among  whom  he  laboured 

with  diligence  and  fidelity  for  eleven  years,  and  was  greatly 

•  *  . 

.  *  Gen.  Diet.— Morcrk— -Biog.  ynivereelle,— Perrault  let  Homines  Iilustres.— 
Biographia  Gallica.— Oict.  Historrque. 


BENSON.  47* 

beloved  by  them.  In  1740  he  was  chosen  by  the  congre- 
gation at  Crutched  Friars,  colleague  to  Dr.  Lard  tier ;  and 
when  infirmities  obliged  Dr.  Lardner  to  quit  the  service  of 
the  church,  the  whole  care  of  it  devolved  oil  him. 

From  the  time  of  his  engaging  in  the  ministry,  be  seems 
to  have  proposed  to  himself  the  critical  study  of  the  Scrip- 
tures,'and  particularly  of  the  New  Testament,  as  a  prin- 
cipal part  of  bis  business ;  and  to  have  pursued  the  dis* 
covery  of  the  sacred  truths  it  contained,  with  uncommon 
diligence  and  fidelity.  The  first  fruit  of  these  studies 
which  he  presented  to  the  public  was,  "  A  defence  of  the 
reasonableness  of  Prayer,  with  a  translation  of  a  discourse 
of  Maximus  Tyrius,  containing  some  popular  objections 
against  prayer,  and  an  answer  to  these.9'  Some  time  after 
this,  he  extracted  from  the  "  Memoirs  of  Literature,"  and 
reprinted,  Mr.  de  la  Roche's  account  of  the  persecution  and 
burning  of  Servetus  by  Calvin,  with  reflections  on  the  in- 
justice and  inconsistence  of  this  conduct  in  that  reformer. 
To  this  he  afterwards  added,  "  A  defence  of  the  account 
of  Servetus;  and  a  brief  account  of  archbishop  Laud's 
cruel  treatment  of  Dr.  Leighton."  About  the  same  tkue> 
to  guard  against  the  corruptions  of  popery,  and  to  prevent 
their  being  urged  by  the  deists  as  plausible  objections 
against  Christianity;  he  published  "  A  dissertation  oft 
2  Thess.  ii.  ver.  1 — -J  2."  In  illustrating  the  observations  of 
die  learned  Joseph  Mede,  he  shewed  these  gross  corruptions 
of  the  best  religion  to  have  been  expressly  foretold,  and 
Christians  strongly  cautioned  against  them ;  and  that,  in 
this  view,  they  were  among  the  evidences  of  the  divine 
authority  of  the  scriptures ;  as  they  proved  the  sacred 
writers  to  have  been  inspired  by  a  divine  spirit,  which 
could  alone  clearly  foretel  events  so  distant,  contingent* 
and  unlikely.  The  light  which  Mr.  Locke  had  thrown  on 
the  obscurest  parts  of  St,  Paul's  epistles,  by  making  him 
his  own  expositor,  encouraged  and  determined  Mr.  Benson 
to  attempt  an  illustration  of  the  remaining  epistles  in  the 
same  manner.  In  1731  he  published  "  A  paraphrase  and 
notes  on  the  epistle  to  Philemon,"  4to,  as  a  specimen:  This 
was  well  received,  and  the  author  encouraged  to  proceed 
in  his  design.  With  the  epistle  to  Philemon  was  pub- 
lished "  A  short  dissertation j  to  prove  from  the  spirit  and 
sentiments  of  the  apostle,  discovered  in  his  epistles, '  that 
he  was  neither  an  enthusiast  nor  impostor ;  and  conse- 
quently, that  the  religion  which  he  asserted  he  received 


47*  B  C  N-  S:  O.  K 

imraed i^tely  from  heaven,  and  confirmed  by  a  T^rrctjr-trf 

miracles,    ifr  indeed  divine."    This  argument  hath  since 

Wen  improved  and  illustrated,  with. great  delicacy  Tand 

strength,  in  a  review  of  the  apostle's  eetire  conduct  and 

character,  by  lord  Lytteiton.     Mr.  Benton  proceeded  with 

great  diligence  and  reputation  to  publish  paraphrases*  and 

notes  on  the  two  epistles  to  the  Thessaloniane,  the  first  and 

second  to  Timothy,  -and  the  ..epistle   to  Titus;    adding 

^dissertations  on  several  imporiai)  Subjects,  particularly  oh 

inspiration,      _  z\:it  '  .   "i 

. .   In  17  3  5-  he  published  a  u  History  of  the  first  planting  of 

Christianity,  taken  from  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  and  their 

Epistles,1*  2  vols.  4to.     In  this  work,  besides  illustrating 

throughout  the  history  of  the  Acts,  and  most  of  the  Epistles, 

.by.  an  historical  view  of  the  times,   the  occasion  of  the 

several  epistles,  and  the  state  of  the  churches  to  whom 

4bey  were  addressed  ;   he  established  the  truth  of  the 

Christian  religion  pn>.  number  of  facts,  the  most  public, 

important*  and  incontestable.     These  works  procured  him 

freat  reputation.  One  of  the  universities  in  ScotlanoVsent 
im  a  diploma  with  a  doctor's  degree ;  and  many  of  high 
rank  in  the  established  church,  as  Herring,  Hoadly,  But* 
Jer,  Benson^  Conybepre*  flic,  shewed  him  great  marks. of 

flavour  and  regard.  He  pursued  the  same  studies  with 
great  application  and  success  till  the  time  of  his  death, 

...which  happened  1763,  in  the  64th  year  of  his  age.  His 
works,  besides  those  already  mentioned,  are,  1.  "A  para- 
phrase  and  note*  on  the  seven  catholic  epistles ;  to  which 
lire  annexed,  several  critical  dissertations,"  4to.     2.  "  The 

-reasonableness  of  the  Christian  religion,  as  delivered  in 
-the  scriptures,"  2  vols.  8vo.     3.  "  A  collection  of  tracts 

,  against  persecution*"  4.  "  A  volume  ,of  sermons  on  se- 
veral important  subjects.?  5.  4f  The  history  of  the  life  of 
Jesus  Christ,  taken  from  the  New  Testament;  with  ob- 
servations and  reflections  proper  to  illustrate  the  excellence 
of  his  character^  and  the  divinity  *f  bis  mission  and  reS- 

.gtonr"   1164,  4U)..1 

; ,  BENSON  (William),  an  English  critic,-  once  of  wane 
fame,  .the  son  of  sir  William. Benson,  formerly  .sheriff  k>f 

;  JLondon,  was  born  in  1689*    After  receiving,  a  liberal  edu- 

:  cation,  he, made  a  tour  on  the  continent,:  daring,  which.* he 

•  visited  Hanover  and  some  other  German  coarts,  and  Stock- 


£io$.l5rit.  ,  i 


-.#.-..„- 


BENSON.  **■ 

kohn.  In  1T10,  he  served  die  office  of  bjgh  sheriff-  of 
Wilts  >  and  soon  after  wrote  a  celebrated  letter  to  sir  Jacob 
Banks  of  Minebead,  by  birth  a  Swede,  but  naturalized, 
in  which  he  represented  the  miseries  of  the  Swedes,  after 
they  had  made  a  surrender  of  their  liberties  to  arbitrary 
power ;  which,  according  to  his  account,  was  then  making 
great  advances  at  home.  When  summoned  for  this  letter 
before  the  privy  council*  he  avowed  himself  the  author, 
but  no  prosecution  appears  to  have  followed,  as  he  put  his 
Dame  to  the  subsequent  editions,  of  which  100,000  ave 
said  to  have  bten  sold  in  English,  or  in  translations.  He 
afterwards  wrote  "  Two  letters  to  sir  Jacob  Banks,  cod-* 
cerning  the  Minehead  doctrine,"  1X1 1,  8vo. 

He  became  member  of  parliament  for  Shaftesbury  in 
the  first  parliament  of  George  I.  and  in  1718  was  made' 
surveyor  general,  in  the  place  of  sir  Christopher  Wren,  oil 
which  occasion  he  vacated  his  seat  in  parliament.     Why 
such  a  disgrace  should  be  inflicted  on  sir  Christopher 
Wren,  now  full  of  years  and  honours,  cannot  be  ascer- ' 
taiued.     Benson,-  however,  gained  only  an  opportunity, 
and  that  soon,  to  display  his  incapacity,  and  the  amazing 
contrast  between  him  and  his  predecessor.     Being  em- 
ployed to  survey  the  house  of  lords;  he  gave  in  a  report 
that  that  house  and  the  painted-  chamber  adjoining  were 
in  immediate  danger  of  falling.     On  this  the  tods  were 
about  to  appoint  some  other  place  for  their  meeting,  when 
it  was  suggested  that  it  woftld  be  proper  to  take  the 'opi- 
nion of  some  other  builders,  who  reported  that  the  btnld- 
ing  was  in  very  good  condition*    The  lords,  irritated  at 
Benson's  ignorance  aud  incapacity,  were  about  to  petition 
the  king  to  remote  him,  when  the  earl  of  Sunderland, 
then  secretary,  assured!  them  that  his  majesty  would  an* 
ticipate  their  wishes.     Benson  was  accordingly  dismissed. 
He  *was  in  some  meantre  consoled,  however;  i>y  the  as- 
signment of  a  consider  Ale  debt  due  to  the  crown  in  Ire- 
land^ and  by  the  revdrftittft  of  one  of  the  two  offices  of 
auditor  of  the  imprests,  which  he  enjoyed  after  the  death 
ofvMr.  Edward  Harley.     In  172<  he  published  "  Virgil's 
Husbandry,  witb  notes  critical  and  rustic;"  and  in  1739, 
"  Letters   concerning  poetical  translations,  and  Virgil's 
and  Miltqp's  arts  of  verse.'9     This  last  was  followed  by  an 
edition  of  "  Arthur  Johnston's  Psalms,"  accompanied  with 
the  Psalms  of  David,  according  to  the  translation  in  the 
English  Bible,  printed  in  4to,  8vo,  and  12 mo;  with  a 


4*4  BENSON. 

**  Prefatory  discourse,"  1740;  in  1741  *'A  conclusion 
to  his  prefatory  discourse ;"  and  in  the  same  year,  "  A 
supplement  to  it,  in  which  is  contained,  a  comparison  be- 
twixt Johnston  and  Buchanan."  In  this  comparison,  given 
in  favour  of  Johnston,  he  was  so  unlucky,  or,  rather  for 
the  sake  of  taste,  so  lucky  as  to  excite  the  indignation  of 
the  celebrated  Ruddiman,  who  wrote  an  elaborate  and  un- 
answerable defence  of  Buchanan,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Benson, 
tinder  the  title  of  "  A  Vindication  of  Mr.  George  Buchanan's 
Paraphrase  of  the  Book  of  Psalms,"  Edinburgh,  1745,  8vo. 
'  Benson,  although  a  man  who  had  spent  the  greater  part 
of  his  life  among  books,  yet  a  short  time  before  his  death, 
contracted  an  unconquerable  aversion  to  them,  and  perhaps 
to  society  likewise,  as  the  latter  years  of  his  life  were  passed 
.in  close  retirement  at  his  house  at  Wimbledon,  where  he 
died  Feb.  1754.  His  character  has  been  variously  repre* 
sented.  It  was  his  misfortune,  if  not  his  fault,  in  the  out- 
set, that  he  was  placed  in  the  invidious  situation  of  suc- 
cessor to  sir  Christopher  Wren,  who  was  most  improperly 
dismissed ;  and  this  procured  him  a  place  in  the  Dunciad, 
which  probably  served  to  keep  up  the  remembrance  of 
what  he  would  willingly  have  forgot.  Dr.  Warton,  how- 
ever, has  endeavoured  to  do  him  justice  in  his  notes  on 
!Pope.  *'  Benson,"  says  that  amiable  critic,  "  is  here 
spoken  of  too  contemptuously.  He  translated  faithfully, 
if  not  very  poetically,  the  second  book  of  the  Georgics, 
with  useful  notes ;  he  printed  elegant  editions  of  Johnston's 
psalms ;  he  wrote  a  discourse  on  versification ;  he  rescued 
his  country  from  the  disgrace  of  having  no  monument 
erected  to  the  memory  of  Milton  in  Westminster-abbey ; 
he  encouraged  and  urged  Pitt  to  translate  the  iEneid ;  and 
he  gave  Dobson  ,£.1000  for  his  Latin  translation  of  Para* 
di$e  Lost."  Another  testimony  we  have  of  his  liberality 
Which  ought  not  to  be  suppressed.  In  1735,  a  book  was 
published,  entitled  "  The  cure  of  Deism."  The  author, 
Mr.  Elisha  Smith,  was  at  that  time  confined  in  the  Fleet 
prison  for  a  debt  of  c£*.200.  Benson,  pleased  with  the 
work,  inquired  who  was  the  author,  and  having  received 
an  account  of  his  unfortunate  state,  not  only  sent  him  a 
handsome  letter,  but  discharged  the  whole  debt,  fees,  &c. 
and  set  him  at  liberty. l 

*  NichoU'g  Life  of  BowjreT.«**Chalmers'  Life  of  Ruddiman,  p.  176.^-Pope's 
Works,  toI.  V. 


i 


BENT  HAM/  4Y& 

BENTHAM  (Edward),  canon  of  Christ-church,  Ox- 
ford,  and  king's  professor  of  divinity  in  that  university, 
vras  born  in  the  college  at  Ely,  July  23,  1707.  His  father, 
Mr.  Samuel  Bentham,  was  a  very  worthy  clergyman,  and; 
vicar  of  Witchford,  a  small  living  near  that  city ;  who  hav- 
ing a  numerous  family,  his  sou  Edward,  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  Dr.  Smalridge,  dean  of  Christ-church,  was/ 
sent  in  1717  to  the  school  of  that  college.  Having  there 
received  the  rudiments  of  classical  education,  he  was  in' 
Lent  term  1723,  when  nearly  16  years  of  age,  admitted  of 
the  university  of  Oxford,  and  placed  at  Corpus- Christi 
college  under  his  relation  Dr.  John  Burton.  In  this  situ- 
ation, his  serious  and  regular  deportment,  and  his  great 
proficiency  in  all  kinds  of  academical  learning,  recom- 
mended him  to  the  notice  of  several  eminent  men  J  and, 
among  others,  to  the  favour  of  Dr.  Tanner,  canon  of 
Christ-church,  by  whose  death  he  was  disappointed  of  a 
nomination  to  a  studentship  in  that  society.  At  Corpus- 
Christi  college  he  formed  a  strict  friendship  with  Robert, 
Hoblyn,  esq.  of  Nanswydden  in  Cornwall,  afterwards  re-v 
presentative  for  the  city  of  Bristol,  whose  character,  as 
a  scholar  and  a  member  of  parliament,  rendered  him  de- 
servedly esteemed  by  the  lovers  of  literature  and  of  their 
country.  In  company  with  this  gentleman  and  another 
•intimate  friend,  Dr.  Ratcliff,  afterwards  master  of  Penw 
broke  college,  Mr.  Bentham  made,  at  different  times,  the 
tour  of  part  of  France,  and  other  countries.  Having  taken 
the  degree  of  B.  A.  he  was  invited  by  Dr.  Cotes,  principal 
of  Magdalen-hall,  to  be  his  vice-principal ;  and  was  ac- 
cordingly admitted  to  that  society,  March  6,  1730.  Here 
Jie  continued  only  a  short  time,  for,  on  the  23d  of  April 
in  the  year  following,  he  was  elected  fellow  of  Oriel  col- 
lege. In  act  term,'  1732,  he  proceeded  to  the  degree  of 
M.  A.  and,  about  the  same  time,  was  appointed  tutor  in 
the  college ;  in  which  capacity  he  discharged  his  duty,  in 
the  most  laborious  and  conscientious  manner,  for  more 
than  twenty  years.  March  26,  1743,  Mr.  Bentham  took 
the  degree  of  B.  D. ;  and  April  22,  in  the  same  year,  was 
collated  to  the  prebend  of  Hundreton,  in  the  cathedral 
Church  of  Hereford.  July  8,  1 749,  he  proceeded  to  the 
degree  of  D.  D.;  and  in  April  1754  was  promoted  to  the 
fifth  stall  in  that  cathedral.  Here  he  continued  the  same 
active  and  useful  course  of  life  for  which  he  had  always 
beeii  distinguished.     He  served  the  offices  of  sub-dean 


47*  BENTHAM, 

and  treasurer,  for  himself  and  others,  above  twelve  yeairs, 
The  affairs  of  the  treasury,  which  Dr.  Bentham  found  in 
great  confusion,  he  entirely  new  modelled,  and  put  into  a 
train  of  business  in  which  they  have  continued  ever  since, 
to  the  great  ease  of  his  successors,  and  benefit  of  the  so- 
ciety.    So  intent  was  he  upon  the  regulation  and  manage* 
merit  of  the  concerns,  of  the  college,  that  he  refused  seve- . 
ral  preferments  which  were  offered  him,  from  a  conscien- 
tious persuasion  that  the  avocations  they  would  produce 
were  incompatible  with  the  proper  discharge  of  the  offices 
he  had  voluntarily  undertaken.     Being  appointed  by  the 
king  to  fill  the  divinity  chair,  vacant  by  the  death  of  Dr. 
Fanshawe,  Dr.  Bentham  was,  with  much  reluctance,  and 
after  having  repeatedly  declined  it,  persuaded,  by  arch- 
bishop Seeker  and  his  other  learned  friends,  to  accept  of 
it ;  and,  on  the  9th  of  May,  1763,  be  was  removed  to  the 
8th  stall  in  the  cathedral.     His  unwillingness  to  appear  in 
this  station  was  increased  by  the  business  he  had  to  trans- 
act in  his  former  situation,  and  which  he  was  afraid  would 
be  impeded  by  the  accession  of  new  duties :  not  to  say 
that  a  life  spent  iii  his  laborious  and  sedentary  manner  had 
produced  some  unfavourable  effects  on  his  constitution, 
and  rendered  a  greater  attention  than  he  had  hitherto  shewn 
£p  private  ease  and  health,  absolutely  necessary.     Besides, 
as  the  duties,  When  properly  discharged,  were  great  and 
interesting,  so  the  station  itself  was  of  that  elevated  and 
public  nature  to  which  his  ambition  never  inclined  him.: 
"  latere  maluit  atque  prodesse."     The  diffidence  he  had  of 
his  abilities  had  ever  taught  him  to  suspect  his  own  suffi- 
ciency; and  his  inatiguratory  lectufb  breathed  the  same 
spirit,  the  text  of  which  was,  "  Who  is  sufficient  for  thesg 
things  ?"  But  whatever  objections  Dr.  Bentham  might  have 
to  the  professorship  before  he  entered  upon  it,  when  once 
he  had  accepted  of  it,  he  never  suffered  them  to  discourage 
him  iu  the  least  from  exerting  his  most  sincere  endeavours! 
to  render  it  both  useful  and  honourable  to  the  university. 
He  set  himself  immediately  to  draw  out  a  course  of  lec- 
tures for  the  benefit  of  young  students  in  divinity,  whicti 
be  constantly  read  at  his  house  at  Christ-church,  gratis, 
three  times  a  week  during  term-time,  till  his  decease.   The 
course  took  up  a  year;  and  he  not  only  exhibited  in  it  a 
complete  system  of  divinity,   but  recommended  proper 
books,  some  of  which  he  generously  distributed  to  his  au- 
ditors.   His  intense  application  to  the  pursuit  of  the  plan, 


BE  N  T  HAM,  47* 

he  bad  laid  down,  together  with  those  concerns  in  which 
his. affection  for  his  friends,  and  his  zeal  for  the  public 
good  in  eyery  shape,  involved  him,  proved  more  than  a 
counterbalance  for  all  the  advantages  of  health  and  vigour 
that  a  strict  and  uniform  temperance  could  procure.     It  is 
certain  that  he  sunk  under  the  rigorous  exercise  of  that 
conduct  he  had.  proposed  to  himself :  for  though  68  years 
are  a  considerable  proportion  in  the  strongest  men's  Jives, 
yet  his  remarkable  abstemiousness  and  sejf-denial,  added  to 
a  disposition  of  body  naturally  strong,  promised,  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  things,  a  longer  period.     Dr.  Bentham 
was  a  very  early  riser,  and  had  transacted  half  a  day's 
business  before  many  others  begin  their  day.     His  coun- 
tenance was  uncommonly  mild  and  engaging,  being  strongly 
characteristic  of  the  piety  and  benevolence  of  his  mind; 
and  at  the  same  time  it  by  no  means  wanted  expression, 
but,  upon  proper  occasions,  could  assume  a  very*  becom- 
ing and  affecting  authority.     In  his  attendance  upon  the 
public  duties  of  religion,  he  was  exceedingly  strict  and 
constant ;  not  suffering  himself  ever  to  be  diverted  from  it 
by  any  motives,  either  of  interest  or  pleasure.     Whiktf  he 
was  thus  diligent  in  the  discharge  of  his  own  duty,  he  was 
not  severe  upon  those  who  were  not  equally  so  in  theirs. 
He  could  scarcely  ever  be  prevailed  upon  to  deliver  hi* 
opinion  upon  subjects  that  were  to  the  disadvantage  of 
Other  men ;  and, when  he  could  not  avoid  doing  it,  his  sen* 
timents  were  expressed  with  the  utmost  delicacy  and  can- 
dour.    No  one  was  more  ready  to  discover,  commend,  and 
,  reward  every  meritorious  endeavour.     Of  himself  he  never 
was  heard  to  speak ;  and  if  his  own  merits  were  touched 
upon  in  the  slightest  manner,  he  felt  a  real  uneasiness. 
Though  he  was  not  fond  of  the  formalities  of  visiting,  he 
entered  into  the  spirit  of  friendly  society  and  intercourse 
with  great  pleasure.     His  constant  engagements,  indeed, 
of  one  kind  or  other,  left  him  not  much  time  to  be  devoted 
to  company ;  and  the  greater  part  of  his  leisure  hojirs  he 
■pent  in  the  enjoyment  of  domestic  pleasures,  for  which 
bis  amiable  and  peaceable  disposition  seemed  most  calcu- 
lated. ' 
Till  within  the  last  half-year  of  his  life,  in  which  he  de- 
clined very  fast,  Dr.  Bentham  was  scarcely  ever  out  of 
order ;  and  he  was.  never  prevented  from  discharging  his 
duty,  excepting  by  weakness  that  occasionally  attacked 
his  eyes,  and  which  had  been  brought  on  by  too  free  aii 


478  B  E  N  T  H  A  M. 

use  of  them  when  be  was  young.    That  part  of  his  fifit  iU» 
Jifess  which  confined  him,  was  only  from  the  23d  of  July  to 
the  first  of  August.     Even  death  itself  found  him  engaged 
in  the  same  laborious  application  which  he  had  always 
directed  to  the  glory  of  the  supreme  being,  and  the  benefit 
of  mankind ;  and  it  was  not  till  he  was  absolutely  forbidden 
by  his  physicians,  that  he  gave  over  a  particular  course  of 
reading,  that  had  been  undertaken  by  him  with  a  view  of 
making  remarks  on  Mr.  Gibbon's  Roman  History,     Thus 
be  died  in  the  faithful  discharge  of  the  duties  of  religion. 
That  serenity  of  mind  and  meekness  of  disposition,  which 
be.  had  manifested  on  every  former  occasion,  shone  forth 
in  a  more  especial  manner  in  his  latter  moments;  and, 
together  with  the  consciousness  of  a  whole  life  spent  in  the 
divine  service,  exhibited  a  scene  of  true  Christian  triumph* 
After  a  few  days  illness,  in  which  he  suffered  a  consider* 
able  degree  of  pain  without  repining,  a  quiet  sigh  put  a 
period  to  his  temporal  existence,  on  the  first  of  August 
1776,  when  he  had  entered  into  the  69th  year  of  his  age. 
Bis  remains  were  deposited  in  the  west  end  of  the  great 
aile  in  the  cathedral  of  Christ- church,  Oxford.     Dr.  Ben- 
tham  resided,  the  principal  part  of  the  year,  so  regularly 
at  Oxford,  that  he  never  missed  a  term  from  his  matricu- 
lation to  his  death.     In  the  summer  he  generally  made  a 
tour  of  some  part  of  the  kingdom  with  his  family;  and, 
for  the  last  thirty  years  of  bis  life,  seldom  failed  in  carrying 
them  to  meet  all  his  brothers  and  sisters  at  Ely,  amongst 
whom  the  greatest  harmony  and  affection  ever  prevailed. 
. .  Br.  Bentbam  married  Elizabeth,  second  daughter  of  Tho- 
mas Bates,  esq.  of  Alton,  in  Hampshire,  by  whom  he  had 
three  children,  two  of  whom,  with  his  widow,  survived  him, 
but  she  died  in   1790,   and  bis  son,  Thomas,  rector  of. 
Swanton  Newarsh,  in  Norfolk,    died  in  1803.     Dr.  Ben-* 
tham's  publications  were  as  follows :  1.  "  The  connection 
between  Irreligion  and  Immorality  ;  a  Sermon  preached  at 
St   Mary's  in   Oxford,  at  the  assizes,   March   the   1st, 
1743- 4,"   1744,  8vo.     j2.  "An  Introduction  to  Moral  Phi- 
losophy," 1745,  and  1746,  8vo.     To  this  tract  is  annexed 
a  table  of  reference  to  English  Discourses  and  Sermons  upon 
moral  subjects,  ranged  according  to  the  order  of  the  intro- 
duction ;  and  a  table  .of  several  of  the  principal.  Writers  in 
moral  philosophy.  3.  "A  Letter  to  a  young  gentleman," 
1748, 8vo.  4.  "  A  Letter  to  a  fellow  of  a  college ;  being  the 
sequel  of  a  Letter  to  a  young  gentleman  of  Oxford,'*  1740* 
8vo.  5.  "  Advice  to  a  young  man  of  rank  upon  coming  to  the 


B  ENTfiA  11  41$ 

university.1'  6.  "  A  Sermon  preached  before  the  honour- 
able House  of  Commons,  at  St  Margaret's  Westminster,  on 
Tuesday,  January  30,  1749-50,"  1750,  4to.  7.  "  Reflec- 
tions  on  Logic,"  Svo;  a  second  edition  came  out  in  1755* 
Our  author  having  been  charged,  in  the  Biographia  Britan-* 
nica,  under  the  article  Locke,  with  a  design  of  excluding 
from  the  schools  that  great  man's  Essay  on  the  Human  Un- 
derstanding, he  subjoined,  in  1760,  a  short,  but  satisfac- 
tory* vindication  of  himself,  to  the  remaining  copies  of  the 
Reflections.  8.  "  T«v  Haxaum9  &c.  EraapioL"  "  Funeral 
Eulogies  upon  Military  Men  from  Thucydides,  Plato,  Ly- 
sias,  Xenophon.  In  the  original  Greek.  To  which  are 
added,  extracts  from  Cicero.  With  Observations  and  Notes 
in  English,"  8vo.  The  second  edition, l  with  additions, 
appeared  in  1768.  The  impression  is  beautiful,  and  the 
notes  and  observations  shew  Dr.  Bentham's  great,  acquaint- 
ance with  classic  antiquity,  and  the  Greek  language.  9# 
"  De  Studiis  Theologicis  Praelectio,"  1764.  JO.  "  Reflec- 
tions upon  the  study  of  Divinity.  To, which  are  subjoined, 
heads  of  a  course  of  Lectures,"  1771,  Svo.  This  tract  con- 
tains many  judicious  observations ;  and  the  heads  of  a 
course  of  Lectures  exhibit,  perhaps,  as  complete;  a  plan  of 
theological  studies  as  was  eve^  delivered.  U.  "De  Vitfc 
et  Moribus  Johannis  Burtoni,  S.T.  P.,Etonensis.  Epistola 
Edvardi  Bentham,  S.  T.  P.  R, '  ad  reverendum  admodua* 
Robert  um  Lowth,  S.  T.  P.  Episcopum  Oxoniensem."  12, 
"A  Sermon  preached  in  the  parish  church  of  Christ  Church, 
London,  on  Thursday,  April  the  30th,  1772:  being  the 
time  of  the. yearly  meeting  of  the  children  educated  in  the 
charity-schools  in  and  about  the  cities  of  London  and  West* 
minster,"  4to.  13.  "An  Introduction  to  Logic,  scholastic 
and  rational,9'  1773,  8vo.  The  Specimen  Logicae  Cicerq- 
nianae  annexed,  displays  Cicero's  close  attention  to  the 
study  of  logic,  and  our  author's  intimate  knowledge  of  Ci~ 
cero.  14.  "  De  Tumultibus.  Americanis  deque  eorum  con- 
qitatoribus  senilis  meditatio."  This  was  occasioned  by 
some  members  of  parliament  having  censured  the  univer- 
sity of  Oxford  for  addressing  the  king  in  favour  of  the 
American  war.  Dr.  Bentham,  like  many  other  wise  and 
good  men,  did  not.  imagine  that  the  contest  would  turn 
out  to  be  soformidable  as  it  afterwards  appeared,  fie  takes 
occasion,  in  the  course  of  the  pamphlet,  to  pay  a  high 
compliment  to  h^riend  Dr.  Tucker. l 


■x.rr 


•  *  Bio*.  Brit.  vol.  III.  p.  49. 


4S6  BENtHAM. 

BENTHAM  (James),  M.  A.  and  F.  A.  S.  prebendary  of 
Ely,  rector  of  Bow-brick-hill  in  the  county  of  Bucks,  and 
-  domestic  chaplain  to  the  right-hon.  lord  Cadogan,  was  the 
brother  of  the  above-mentioned  Edward.  Having  received 
the  rudiments  of  classical  learning  in  the  grammar-school 
of  Ely,  he  was  admitted  of  Trinity  college,  Cambridge, 
March  26,1727,  where  he  proceeded  B.  A.  1730,  and  M.  A. 
1738,  and  was  elected  F.  A.  8.  1767.  In  the  year  1733  he 
was  presented  to  the  vicarage  of  Stapleford  in  Cambridge- 
shire, which  he  resigned  in  1736,  on  being  made  minor 
canon  in  the  church  of  Ely.  In  1767  he  was  presented  by 
bishop  Mawson  to  the  vicarage  of  Wymondham  in  Norfolk, 
which  *  he  resigned  in  the  year  following  for  the  rectory  of 
Feltwell  St  Nicholas,  hi  the  same  county.  This  he  re* 
signed  in  1774  for  the  rectory  of  North  wold,  which  in  1779 
he  was  induced  by  bishop  Keene  to  change  for  aprebendal 
stall  in  the  church  of  Ely,  though  he  was  far  from  improv- 
ing his  income  by  the  change.  But  his  attachment  to  his 
native  place,  with  which  church  the  family  had  been  con- 
nected without  any  intermission  for  more  than  100  years, 
surmounted  every  other  consideration.  In  1783  be  was 
presented  to  the  rectory  of  Bow- brick-hill,  by  the  rev. 
Edward  Guellaume.  From  his  first  appointment  to  an  of- 
fice in  the  church  of  Ely,  he  seems  to  have  directed  his 
attention  to  the  study  of  church  architecture.  It  is  pro- 
bable that  he  was  determined  to  the  pursuit  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal antiquities  by  the  eminent  example  of  bishop  Tanner 
(a  prebendary  of  the  same  stall  which  Mr.  Bentham  after- 
wards held),  who  had  honoured  the  family  with  many  marks 
of  his  kindness  and  friendship.  For  researches  of  this  kind 
Mr.  Bentham  seems  to  have  been  excellently  qualified. 
To  a  sound  judgment  and  a  considerable  degree  of  pene- 
tration, accompanied  by  a  minuteness  and  accuracy  of  in- 
quiry altogether  uncommon,  Mr.  Bentham  added  the  most 
patient  assiduity  and  unwearied  industry.  The  history  of 
the  church  with  which  he  was  connected  afforded  him  full 
scope  for  the  exercise  of  his  talents.  It  abounds  with  al- 
tnost  all  the  various  specimens  of  church  architecture  used 
in  England  to  the  time  of  the  reformation.  Having  pre* 
viously  examined  with  great  attention  every  historical  mo- 
nument and  authority  which  could  throw  any  light  upon 
his  subject,  after  he  had  circulated,  in  1756,  a  catalogue 
of  the  principal  members  of  this  chureh  (Ely),  viz.  ab- 
besses, abbdts,  bishops,  priors,  deans,  prebendaries,  and 


B  E  tf  f  H  A"M.  481 

archdeacons,  in  order  to  collect  further  information  con- 
cerning them,  he  published  "  The  History  and  Antiquities 
of  the  conventual  and  cathedral  Church  of  Ely,  from  the 
foundation  of  the  monastery,  A.  D.  675,  to  the  year  1771, 
illustrated  with  copper-plates,"  Cambridge^  1771,  4to. 
The  sheets  of  Mr.  Bentham's  work  were  carefully  revised 
by  his  brother  Dr.  Bentham,  and  by  the  Rev.  W>  Cole,  of 
Milton  ;  and  both  were  considerable  contributors  to  it. 
This  was  probably  the  cheapest  book  ever  published,  the 
subscription  prile  being  only  eighteen  shillings,  which  was 
raised  to  non-subscribers  to  a  guinea  and  a  half.  It  has  of 
late  years  seldom  been  sold  under  twelve  or  fourteen 
guineas,  but  a  new  edition  has  just  been  published,  1812, 
which,  for  paper  and  typography,  reflects  honour  on  the 
Norwich  press* 

In  the  introduction  the  author  thought  it  might  be  useful 
*  td  give  some  account  of  Saxon,  Norman,  and  what  is  usually 
called  Gothic  arfchitecture.  The  many  novel  and  ingenious 
remarks,  which  occurred  in  this  part  of  the  work,  soon  at- 
trafcted  the  attention  of  those  who  had  turned  their  thoughts 
U>  the  'subject.  Thig  short  essay  was  favourably  received 
by  the  public,-  and  '  has  been  frequently  cited  a;nd  referred 
to  by  most  writers  on  Gothic  architecture.  By  a  strange 
mistake,  these  observations  were  hastily  attributed  to  the 
celebrated  Mr.  Gray,  merely  because  Mr.  Bentham  has 
mentioned  his  name  among  that  of  others  to  whom  he  con-* 
cfeived  himself  indebted  for  communications  and  hints.  Mr. 
Bentham  was  never  informed  of  this  extraordinary  circum- 
stance till  the  year  17  £3,  when  he  accidentally  met  with  it 
in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  the  month  of  February 
in  that  year;  upon  which  he  immediately  thought  it  ne- 
cessary to  rectify  the  mistake,  and  to  vindicate  his  own 
character  and  reputation  as  an  author  from  the  charge  of 
having  been  obliged  to  Mr.  Gray  for  that  treatise,  when 
he  had  published  it  as  his  own  ;  and  this  he  was  enabled  to 
d(4  satisfactorily,  having  fortunately  preserved  the  only  let- 
ter which  he  had  received  from  Mr:  Gray  on  the  subject. 
The  truth  was,  that  Mr.  bentham  had  written  the  treatise 
long^  before  he  had  the  honour  of  any  acquaintance  with 
Mr.  Gray,  arid- it  was  that  which  first  introduced  him  to 
Mr.  Gray.  What  his  obligations  were  will  appear  by  re- 
ference to  a  copy  *  of  that  letter,  which  he  received  from 
Mr.  Gray  when  he  rfturiied  the  six  sheets  which  Mr.  Ben- 
tham had  submittedUo  him  at  his  own  request.  It  happened 
Vol.  IVi  1 1 


48*  BENTHAM, 

that  the  two  last  sheets,  though  composed,  were  not  work- 
ed off,  which  gave  Mr.  Bentham  an  opportunity  of  insert- 
ing some  additions  alluded  to  in  Mr*  Gray's  letter.  In  the 
Magazine  for  July  1784,  may  be  seen  the  full  and  hand- 
some apology  which  this  explanation  produced  from  a  cor- 
respondent, who,  under  the  signature  of  S.  £.  had  inad- 
vertently ascribed  these  remarks  to  Mr.  Gray.  These  re* 
marks  have  been  since  printed  in  an  excellent  collection 
of  "  Essays  on  Gothic  Architecture,"  published  by  Mr. 
Taylor,  of  Holborn.  When  the  dean  and  chapter  of  Ely 
had  determined  upon  the  general  repair  of  the  fabric  of 
their  church,  and  the  judicious  removal  of  the  choir  from 
the  dome  to  the  presbytery  at  the  east  end,  Mr.  Bentham 
was  requested  to  superintend  that  concern  as  clerk  of  the 
works.  With  what  indefatigable  industry  and  attention  he 
acquitted  himself  in  that  station,  and  how  much  he  contri- 
buted to  the  improvement  and  success  of  the  public. works 
then  carrying  on,  appears  as  well  by  the  minutes  of  those 
transactions,  as  by  the  satisfaction  with  which  the  body 
recognized  his  services.  This  employment  gave  him  a 
thorough  insight  into  the  principles  and  peculiarities  of 
these  antient  buildings,  and  suggested  to  him  the  idea  of 
a  general  history  of  antient  architecture  in  this  kingdom* 
which  he  justly  considered  a  desideratum  of  the  learned 
and  inquisitive  antiquary.  He  was  still  intent  upon  this 
subject,  and  during  the  amusement  of  his  leisure  hours 
continued  almost  to  the  last  to  make  collections  with  a  view 
to  some  further  illustration  of  this  curious  point,  though  his 
avocations  of  one  kind  or  another  prevented  him  from  re* 
ducing  them  to  any  regular  form  or  series.  But  he  did 
not  suffer  these  pursuits  to  call  him  off  from  the  profes- 
sional duties  of  his  station,  or  from  contributing  his  endea- 
vours  towards  promoting  works  of  general  utility  to  the 
neighbourhood.  To  a  laudable  spirit  of  this  latter  kind, 
animated  by  a  zeal  for  his  native  place,  truly  patriotic,  is 
to  be  referred  his  steady  perseverance  in  recommending 
to  his  countrymen,  under  all  the  discouragements  of  ob- 
loquy and  prejudice,  the  plans  suggested  for  the  improve- 
ment of  their  fens  by  draining,  and  the  practicability  of 
increasing  their  intercourse  with  the  neighbouring  coun- 
ties by  means  of  turnpike  roads ;  a  measure  till  then  mi- 
attempted,  and  for  a  long  time  treated  with  a  contempt 
and  ridicule  due  only  to  the  most  wild  and  visionary  pro- 
jects, the  merit  of  which  he  was  at  last  forced  to  rest  upon 
the  result  of  an  experiment  made  by  himself.  -  With  this 


B  E  N  T  H  A  M.  483 

f 

view,  in  1757,  he  published  his  sentiments  under  the  title 
of  "  Queries  offered  to  the  consideration  of  the  principal 
inhabitants  of  the  city  of  Ely,  and  towns  adjacent,  &c."  and 
had  at  length  the  satisfaction  to  see  the  attention  of  the 
public  directed  to  the  favourite  object  of  those  with  whom 
he  was  associated.  Several  gentlemen  of  property  and 
consideration  in  the  county  generously  engaged  in  contri- 
buting donations  towards  setting  on  foot  a  scheme  to  esta- 
blish turnpike  roads.  By  the  liberal  example  of  lord-chan- 
cellor Hardwicke,  lord  Royston,  and  bishop  Mawson,  and 
the  seasonable  bequest  of  200/.  by  Geo.  Riste,  esq.  of 
Cambridge,  others  were  incited  to  additional  subscriptions. 
In  a  short  time  these  amounted  to  upwards  of  1000/.  and 
nearly  to  double  that  sum  on  interest.  The  scheme  being 
thus  invigorated  by  these  helps,  and  by  the  increasing 
loans  of  those  whose  prejudices  began  now  to  wear  away, 
an  act  was  obtained  in  1763  for  improving  the  road  from 
Cambridge  to  Ely.  Similar  powers  and  provisions  were  in 
a  few  years  obtained  by  subsequent  acts,  and  the  benefit 
extended  to  other  parts  of  the  isle  in  all  directions,  the  suc- 
cess of  which  hath  answered  the  most  sanguine  expectation? 
of  its  advocates.  With  the  same  beneficent  disposition, 
Mr.  Bentham  in  1773  submitted  a  plan  for  inclosing  and 
draining  a  large  tract  of  common  in  the  vicinity  of  Ely, 
called  Gruntifen,  containing  near  1300  acres,  under  the 
title  of  "  Considerations  and  Reflections  upon  the  present 
state  of  the  fens  near  Ely,"  &c.  Cambridge,  1778,  8vo. 
The  inclosure,  however,  from  whatever  cause,  did  not  then 
take  place ;  but  some  of  the  hints  therein  suggested  have 
formed  the  groundwork  of  many  of  the  improvements 
which  have  since  obtained  in  the  culture  and  drainage  of 
the  fens.  Exertions  of  this  kind  could  not  fail  to  procure 
him  the  esteem  and  respect  of  all  who  knew  him,  espe- 
cially as  they  were  wholly  unaccompanied  with  that  parade 
and  ostentation  by  which  the  best  public  services  are  some- 
times disgraced.  Mr.  Bentham  was  naturally  of  a  delicate 
and  tender  constitution,  to  which  his  sedentary  life  and 
habits  of  application  were  very  unfavourable ;  but  this  was 
so  for  corrected  by  rigid  temperance  and  regularity,  that 
he  was  rarely  prevented  from  giving  due  attention  either 
to  the  calls  of  his  profession  or  to  the  pursuits  of  his  leisure 
hours.  He  retained  his  faculties  in  full  vigour  to  the  last, 
though  his  bodily  infirmities  debarred  him  latterly  from  at- 
tendance upon  public  worship,  which  he  always  exceed* 

li  2 


484  BENTHAM. 

ingly  lamented,  having  been  uniformly  exemplary  in  that 
duty.  He  read,  with  full  relish  and  spirit,  most  publica- 
tions of  note  or  merit  as  they  appeared,  and,  till  within  a 
few  days  of  his  death,  continued  his  customary  intercourse 
with  his  friends.  He  died  Nov.  17,  1794,  in  the  eighty- 
sixth  year  of  his  age.  He  left  only  one  son,  the  Rev.  James 
Bentham,  vicar  of  West  Braddenham  in  Norfolk,  a  pre- 
ferment for  which  he  was  indebted  to  the  kind  patronage 
of  the  late  bishop  of  Ely,  the  hon.  Dr.  James  Yorke.  Mr. 
Joseph  Bentham,  brother  to  the  Historian  and  to  Dr.  Ben- 
tham, and  an  alderman  of  Cambridge,  was  many  years 
printer  to  the  university,  and  died  in  1778.  The  History 
of  Ely  being  the  last  work  he  printed,  this  circumstance  is 
recorded  on  the  last  page  by  the  words  "  Finis  hie  officii 
atque  laboris."  A  fourth  brother,  the  Rev.  Jeffery  Ben- 
tham, precentor  of  the  church  of  Ely,  &c.  died  in  1792, 
aged  seventy  two.  A  fifth,  the  Rev.  Edmund  Bentham,  B.D. 
rector  of  Wootton-Courtnay,  Somersetshire,  died  iu  Oct. 
1781,  at  Moulsey  Grove,  near  Hampton.  Mr.  Cole,  who 
in  his  MS  Athens,  gives  some  account  of  the  Benthams, 
with  a  mixture  of  spleen  and  respect,  remarks  that  this  Ed- 
mund died  in  a  parish  in  which  he  was  not  buried,  was 
buried  in  a  parish  with  which  he  had  no  connexion,  and 
has  a  monument  in  a  church  (Sutton)  where  he  was  not 
buried,  but  of  which  he  bad  been  curate  for  near  forty 
years.  * 

BENTHAM  (Thomas),  a  learned  sgid  pious  English  di- 
vine, bishop  of  Litchfield  and  Coventry  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  was  born  about  the  year  1513,  at  Shirebourne  in 
Yorkshire,  and  educated  at  Magdalen-college  in  Oxford* 
He  took  bis  bachelor's  degree  in  arts,  Feb.  20,  1543,  and 
was  admitted  perpetual  fellow  of  that  college,  November 
16,  1546,  and  took  his  master's  degree  in  arts  the  year 
following,  about  which  time  he  applied  himself  wholly  to 
the  study  of  divinity  and  the  Hebrew  language,  in  which 
be  was  extremely  well  skilled,  as  well  as  in,  the  Latin  and 
Greek  tongues.  The  compiler  of  "  Anglorum  Speculum" 
tells  us,  that  he  was  converted  from  popery  in  the  first 
year  of  queen  Mary;  but  we  find  him  very  zealous 
against  the  popish  religion  during  the  reign  of  king  Ed- 
ward VI.  upon  which  account,  and  his  assisting  one  Henry 
Bull  of  the  same  college,  in  wresting  the  censer  out  of  the 

1  Nichols's  Literary  Anecdotes  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  vol.  IIK — Gent, 
Mag.  LIV.  943;  JLXIV.  1062,  1151.— Cole's  MS  Atb.  in  Brit.  Mas. 


BENTHAM.  485 

hands  of  the  choristers,  as  they  were  about  to  offer  their 
superstitious  incense,  he  was  ejected  from  his  fellowship 
by  the  visitors  appointed  by  queen  Mary  to  regulate  the 
university  ;  soon  after  which  he  retired  to  Zurich,  and  af- 
terwards to  Basil  In  Switzerland,  &&A  became  preacher  to 
the  English  exiles  there,  and  expounded  to  them  the  entire 
book  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles ;  a  proper  subject  and 
portion  of  scripture,  Fuller  observes,  to  recommend  pa- 
tience to  his  banished  countrymen  ;  as  the  apostle's  suffer- 
ings so  far  exceeded  theirs.  This  exposition  was  left  by 
him  at  the  time  of  his  death,  very  fairly  written,  and 
fit  for  the  press,  but  it  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
printed.  In  exile,  as  at  home  and  in  college,  he  led  a 
praise- worthy,  honest,  and  laborious  life,  with  little  or  no 
preferment.  Afterwards,  being  recalled  by  some  of  his 
brethren,  he  returned  to  London  under  the  same  queen's 
reign,  where  he  lived  privately  and  in  disguise,  and  was 
made  superintendant  of  a  protestant  congregation  in  that 
city ;  whom  Bentham,  by  his  pious  discipline,  diligent  care 
and  tuition,  and  bold  and  resolute  behaviour  in  the  pro- 
testant cause,  greatly  confirmed  in  their  faith  and  religion ; 
so  that  they  assembled  with  the  greatest  constancy  to  di- 
vine worship,  at  which  there  often  appeared  an  hundred, 
sometimes  two  hundred  persons ;  no  inconsiderable  con- 
gregation this  to  meet  by  stealth,  notwithstanding  the 
danger  of  the  times,  daily,  together  at  London,  in  spjte 
of  the  vigilant  and  cruel  Bonner.  At  length,  when  queen 
Elizabeth  came  to  the  throne,  he  was,  in  the  second  year 
of  her  reign,  nominated  for  the  see  of  Litchfield  and  Co- 
ventry, upon  the  deprivation  of  Dr.  Ralph  Bayne,  and  had 
the  temporalities  of  that  see  restored  to  him,  Feb.  20, 1559, 
being  then  about  forty-six  years  of  age.  On  the  30th  of 
October  1556,  he  was  created,  with  some  others,  profes- 
sor of  divinity  at  London,  by  Laurence  Humphrey,  S.T.P. 
and  John  Kenal,  LL.D.  who  were  deputed  by  the  univer- 
sity of  Oxford  for  that  purpose ;  and  in  the  latter  end  of 
October  1568,  he  was  actually  created  doctor  of  divinity, 
being  then  highly  esteemed  on  account  of  his  distinguished 
learning.  He  published  a  Sermon  on  Matth.  iv.  1 — 11, 
printed  at  London,  8vo.  Bishop  Burnet,  in  his  History  of 
the  Reformation,  tells  us,  that  our  author  translated  into 
English  the  Book  of  Psalms,  at  the  command  of  queen 
Elizabeth,  whfen  an  English  version  of  the  Bible  was  to 
be  made,   and  that  he  likewise  translated   Ezekiel  and 


486  B  E  N  T  H  A  M. 

Daniel.    He  died  at  Eccleshal  in  Staffordshire,  the  seat  be- 
longing to  the  see,  Feb.  19,  1578,  aged  sixty-five  years, 

and  was  buried  under  the  south  wall  of  the  chancel  of  that 

» 

church. l 

BENTINCK  or  BE&THINCK  (William),  earl  of  Port- 
land, &c.  one  of  the  greatest  statesmen  of  his  time,  and 
the  first  that  advanced  his  family  to  the  dignity  of  the 
English  peerage,  was  a  native  of  Holland,  of  an  ancient 
and  noble  family  in  the  province  of  Guelderland.     After  a 
liberal   education,  he  was  promoted  to  be  page  of  honour 
to  William,  then  prince  of  Orange  (afterwards  king  Wil- 
liam III.  of  England),  in  which  station  his  behaviour  and 
address  so  recommended  him  to  the  favour  of  his  master^ 
that  he  preferred  him  to  the  post  of  gentleman  of  his  bed- 
chamber.   In  this  capacity  he  accompanied  the  prince  into 
England,  in  the  year  1670,  where,  going  to  visit  the  uni- 
versity of  Oxford,  he  was,  together  with  the  prince,  created 
doctor  of  civil  law.     In  1672,  the  prince  of  Orange  being* 
made  captain-general  of  the  Dutch  forces,  and  soon  after 
Stockholder,  M.  Bentinck  was  promoted,  and  had  a  share 
in  his  good  fortune,  being  made  colonel  and  captain  of  the 
Dutch  regiment  of  guards,  afterwards  esteemed  one  of  the 
finest  in  king  William's  service,  and  which  behaved  with 
the  greatest  gallantry  in  the  wars  both  in  Flanders  and 
Ireland.    In  1675,  the  prince  falling  ill  of  the  small-pox, 
M.  Bentinck  bad  an  opportunity  of  signalizing  his  love  and 
affection  for  his  m'aster  in  an  extraordinary  manner,  and 
thereby  of  obtaining  his  esteem  and  friendship,  by  one  of 
the  most  generous  actions  imaginable :  for  the  small-pox 
not  rising  kindly  upon  the  prince,  his  physicians  judged  it 
i>ecessary  that  some  young  person  should  lie  in  the  same 
bed  with  him,  imagining  that  the  natural  heat  of  another 
would  expel  the   disease.     M.  Bentinck,  though  he  had 
never  had  the  small-pox,  resolved  to  run  this  risque,  and 
accordingly  attended  the  prince  during  the  whole  course 
of  his  illness,  both  day  and  night,  and  his  highness  said 
afterwards,  that  he  believed  M.  Bentinck  never  slept;  for 
in  sixteen  days  and  nights,  be  never  called  once  that  he 
was  not  answered  by  him.     M.  Bentinck,  however,  upon 
the  prince's  recovery,  was  immediately  seized  with  the 
$ame  distemper,  attended  with  a  great  deal  of  danger,  but 

1  Biog.  Brit— Ath.  Ox.  vol.  I. — Tanner. — Strype's  Annals,  vol.  I.  p.  136> 
464.— -Memorials,  vol.  III.  460,  461;  Cranmer,  275$  Grindal,  27;  Parker,  64, 


B  E  N  T  I  N  C  K.  487 

recovered  soon  enough  to  attend  his  highness  into  the  field, 
where  he  was  always  next  his  person  ;  and  his  courage  and 
abilities  answered  the  great  opinion  his  highness  had  form* 
ed  of  him,  and  from  this  time  he  employed  him  in  his  most 
secret  and  important  affairs.     In  1677,  M.  Bentinck  was 
sent  by  the  prince  of  Orange  into  England,  to  solicit  a 
match  with  the  princess  Mary,  eldest  daughter  of  James, 
at  that  time  duke  of  York  (afterwards  king  James  II.)  which 
was  soon  after  concluded.     And  in  1685,  upon  the  duke 
of  Monmouth's  invasion  of  this  kingdom,  he  was  sent  over 
to  king  James  to  offer  him  his  master's  assistance,  both  of 
his  troops  and  person,  to  head  them  against  the  rebels, 
but,  through  a  misconstruction  put  on  his  message,  his 
highness's  offer  was  rejected  by  the  king.     In  the  year 
1688,  when  the  prince  of  Orange  intended  an  expedition 
into  England,  he  sent  M.  Bentinck,  on  the  elector  of  Bran- 
dertburgh's  death,  to  the  new  elector,  to  communicate  to 
him  his  design  upon  England,  and  to  solicit  his  assistance. 
In  this  negociation  M.  Bentinck  was  so  successful  as  to 
bring  back  a  more  favourable  and  satisfactory  answer  than 
the  prince  had   expected ;  the  elector  having  generously 
granted  even  more  than  was  asked  of  him.     M.  Bentinct 
had  also  a  great  share  in  the  revolution ;  and  in  this  diffi- 
cult and  important  affair,  shewed  all  the  prudence  and  sa- 
gacity of  the  most  consummate  statesman.     It  was  he  that 
was  applied  to,  as  the  person  in  the  greatest  confidence 
with  the  prince,  to  manage  the  negociations  that  were  set 
on  foot,  betwixt  his  highness  and  the  English  nobility  and 
gentry,  who  had  recourse  to  him  to  rescue  them  from  the 
danger  they  were  in.     He  was  also  two  months  constantly 
at  the  Hague,  giving  the  necessary  orders  for  the  prince's 
expedition,  which  was  managed  by  him  with  such  secrecy, 
that  nothing  was  suspected,  nor  was  there  ever  so  great  a 
design  executed  in  so  short  a  time,  a  transport  fleet  of 
500  vessels  having  been  hired  in  three  days.     M.  Bentinck 
accompanied  the  prince  to  England,  and  after  king  James's 
abdication,  during  the  interregnum,  he  held  the  first  place 
among  those  who  composed  the  prince's  cabinet  at  that 
critical  time,  and  that,  in  such  a  degree  of  super-eminence, 
as  scarcely  left  room  for  a  second :  and  we  may  presume 
he  was  not  wanting  in  his  endeavours  to  procure  the  crown 
for  the  prince  his  master ;  who,  when  he  had  obtained  it, 
was  as  forward  on  his  part,  in  rewarding  the  faithful  and 
signal  services  of  M,  Bentinck,  whom  he  appointed  groom 


488  BEHTINCK, 

of  the  stole,  privy  purse,  first  gentleman  of  the  royal  bed- 
chamber! and  first  commoner  upon  the  list  of  privy  coun- 
sellors.    He  was  afterwards  naturalised  by  act  of  parlia- 
ment ;  and,  by  letters  patent  bearing  date  the  9th  of  April 
1689,  two  days  before  the  king  and  queen's  coronation,  he 
was  created  baron  of  Cirencester,   viscount  Woodstock, 
and  earl   of  Portland.      In    1690,   the   earl  of  Portland, 
with  many  others  of  the  English  nobility,  attended  king 
William    to    Holland,     where    the    earl    acted    as    en- 
voy for  his  majesty,  at  the  grand  congress  held  at  the 
Hague  the  same  year.     In  1695,  king  William  made  this 
nobleman  a  grant  of  the  lordships  of  Denbigh,  Bromfield, 
Yale,  and  other  lands,  containing  many  thousand  acres,  in 
the  principality  of  Wales,  but  these  being  part   of  the 
demesne  thereof,  the  grant  was  opposed,  and  the  house 
of  commons  addressed  the  king  to  put  a  stop  to  the  passing 
it,  which  his  majesty  accordingly  complied  with,  and  re- 
called the  grant,  promising,  however,  to  find  some  other 
way  of  shewing  his  favour  to  lord  Portland,  who,  he  said, 
had  deserved  it  by  long  and  faithful  services.     It  was  to 
this  nobleman  that  the  plot  for  assassinating  king  William 
in  1695  was  first  discovered  ;  and  his  lordship,   by  his  in- 
defatigable zeal,  was  very  instrumental  in  bringing  to  light 
the  whole  of  that  execrable  scheme.     The  same  year  ano- 
ther affair  happened,  in  which  he  gave  such  a  shining  proof 
of  the  strictest  honour  and  integrity,  as  has  done  immortal 
-honour  to  his  memory.     The  parliament  having  taken  into 
consideration  the  affairs  of  the  East  India  company,  who, 
through  mismanagement  and   corrupt  dealings,    were  in 
danger  of  losing  their  charter,  strong  interest  was  made 
with  the  members  of  both  houses,  and  large  sums  distri- 
buted, to  procure  a  new  establishment  of  their  company  by 
act  of  parliament.     Among  those  noblemen  whose  interest 
was*  necessary  to  bring  about  this  affair,  lord  Portland's  was 
particularly  courted,  and  an  extraordinary  value  put  upon 
jt^  much  beyond  that  of  any  other  peer;  for  he  was  of- 
fered no  less  than  the  sum  of  50,000/.  for  his  vote,  and  his 
endeavours  with  the  king  to  favour  the  design.     But  his 
lordship  treated  this  offer  with  all  the  contempt  it  de- 
served, telling  the  person  employed  in  it,  that  if  he  ever 
so  much  as  mentioned  such  a  thing  to  him  again,  he  would 
for  ever  be  the  company's  enemy,  and  give  them  all  the 
opposition  in  his  power.     This  is  an  instance  of  public 
spirit  not  often  met  with,  and  did  not  pass  unregarded ; 


B  E  N  T  I  N  C  K.  489 

for  we  find  it  recorded  in  an  eloquent  speech  of  a  member 
of  parliament,  who  related  this  noble  action  to  the  house 
of  commons,  much  to  the  honour  of  lord  Portland.    It  was 
owing  to  this  nobleman,  also,  that  the  Banquetting-house  at 
Whitehall  was  saved,  when  the  rest  of  the  Palace  was  de- 
stroyed by  fire.    In  February  1696,  he  was  created  a  knight 
of  the  garter,  at  a  chapter  held  at  Kensington,  and  was  in-  . 
stalled  at  Windsor  on  the  25th  of  March,  1697,  at  which 
time  he  was  also  lieutenant-general  of  his  majesty's  forces : 
for  his  lordship's  services  were  not  confined  to  the  cabinet; 
he  likewise  distinguished  himself  in  the  field  on  several 
occasions,  particularly  at  the  battle  of  the  Boyne,  battle  of 
Landen,  where  he  was  wounded,  siege  of  Limerick,  Na- 
mur,  &c.     As  his  lordship  thus  attended  his  royal  master 
in  his  wars  both  in  Ireland  and  Flanders,  and  bore  a  prin- 
cipal command  there,  so  he  was  honoured  by  his  majesty 
with  the  chief  management  of  the  famous  peace  of  Rys- 
wick ;    having,    in   some    conferences   with   the   marshal 
Boufflers,  settled  the  most  difficult  and  tender  point,  and 
which  might  greatly  have  retarded  the  conclusion  of  the 
peace.     This  was  concerning  the  disposal  of  king  James  ; 
the  king  of  France  having  solemuly  promised,  in  an  open 
declaration  to  all  Europe,  that  he  would  never  lay  down  his 
arms  till  he  had  restored  the  abdicated  king  to  his  throne, 
and   consequently  could  not  own  king  William,  without 
abandoning  him.     Not  long  after  the  conclusion  of  the 
peace,  king  William  nominated  the  earl  of  Portland  to  be 
his  ambassador  extraordinary  to  the  court  of  France ;  an 
honour  justly  due  to  him,  for  the  share  he  had  in  bringing 
about  the  treaty  of  Ryswick ;  and  the  king  could  not  have 
fixed  upon  a  person  better  qualified   to  support  his  high 
character  with    dignity  and  magnificence.     The  French 
likewise  had  a  great  opinion  of  his  lordship's  capacity  and 
merit ;  and  no  ambassador  was  ever  so  respected  and  ca- 
ressed in  France  as  his  lordship  was,  who,  on  his  part,  filled 
his  employment  with  equal  honour  to  the  king,  the  British 
nation,  and  himself.     According  to  Prior,  however,  the 
earl  of  Portland  went  on  this  embassy  with  reluctance,  hav- 
ing been  for  some  time  alarmed  with  the  growing  favour  of 
a  rival  in  king  William's  affection,  namely,  Keppel,  after- 
wards created  earl  of  Albermarle,  a  Dutchman,  who  had 
also  been  page  to  his  majesty.    "  And,"  according  to  Prior, 
"  his  jealousy  was  not  ill-grounded  ;  for  Albemarle  so  pre- 
vailed iu  lord  Portland's  absence,  that  he  obliged  him,  by 


490  BENTINCK. 

several  little  affronts,  to  lay  down  all  his   employments, 
after  which  he  was  never  more  in  favour,  though  the  king 
always  shewed  an  esteem  for  him."     Bishop  Burnet  says 
"  That  the  earl  of  Portland  observed  the  progress  of  the 
king's  favour  to  the  lord  Albemarle  with  great  uneasiness : 
.    they  grew  to  be  not  only  incompatible,  as  all  rivals  for  fa- 
vour must  be,  but  to  hate  and  oppose  one  another  in  every 
thing  ;  the  one  (lord  Portland)  had  more  of  the  confidence,, 
the  other  more  of  the  favour.     Lord  Portland,  upon  his 
return  from  his  embassy  to  France,  could  not  bear  the  visi- 
ble superiority  in  favour  that  the  other  was  growing  up  to  ; 
so  he  took  occasion,  from  a  small  preference  given  lord 
Albemarle  in  prejudice  of  his  own  post,  as  groom  of  the 
stole,  to  withdraw  from  court,  and  lay  down  all  his  em- 
ployments.    The  king  used  all  possible  means  to  divert 
him  from  this  resolution,  but  could  not. prevail  on  him  to 
alter  it :  he,  indeed,  consented  to  serve  his  majesty  still  ia 
his  state  affairs,  but  would  not  return  to  any  post  in  the 
household."     This  change,  says  bishop  Kennet,  did  at  first 
please  the  English  and  Dutch,  the  earl  of  Albermarle  hav- 
ing cunningly  made  several  powerful  friends  in  both  na- 
tions, who,  out  of  envy  to  lord  Portland,  were  glad  to  see 
another  hi  his  place  ;  and  it  is  said  that  lord  Albemarle  was 
supported  by  the  earl  of  Sutherland  and  Mrs.  Villiers  to 
pull  down  lord  Portland :  however,  though  the  first  became 
now   the  reigning  favourite,  yet  the  latter,  says  bishop 
Kennet,  did  ever,  preserve  the  esteem  and  affection  of  king 
William.     But  king  William  was  not  one  of  those  princes 
who  are  governed  by  favourites.     He  was  his  own  minister 
in  all  the  greater  parts  of  government,  as  those  of  war  and 
peace,  forming  alliances  and  treaties,  and  he  appreciated 
justly  the  merit  of  those  whom  he  employed  in  his  service.. 
It  is  highly  .probable,  therefore,  that  lord  Portland  never 
lost   the  king's  favourable   opinion,    although  he   might 
be  obliged  to  give  way  to  a  temporary  favourite.     The 
earl  of  Albemarle  had  been  in  his  majesty's  service  from* 
a  youth,   was  descended  of  a  noble  family  in  Guelder- 
land,  attended  king  William  into  England  as  his  page  of 
honour,  and  being  a  young  lord  of  address  and  temper* 
with  a  due  mixture  of  heroism,  it  is  no  wonder  his  ma- 
jesty took  pleasure  in  his  conversation  in  the  intervals  of 
state  business,    and  iu  making  his  fortune,  who  had  so 
long  followed  his  own.     Bishop  Burnet  says,  it  is  a  diffi- 
cult matter  to  account  for  the  reasons  of  the  favour  shewn 


B  E  N  T  I  N  C  K.  491 

by  the  king,  in  the  highest  degree,  to  these  two  lords* 
tbey  being  in  all  respects,  not  only  of  different,  but  of 
quite  opposite  characters ;  secrecy  and  fidelity  being  the 
only  qualities  in  which  they  did  in  any  sort  agree.     Lord 
Albemarle  was  very  cheerful  and  gay,  had  all  the  arts  of 
a  court,-  was  civil  to  all,  and  procured  favours  for  many ; 
but  was  so  addicted  to  his  pleasures  that  he  could  scarcely 
submit  to  attend  on  business,  and  had  never  yet  distin- 
guished himself  in  any  thing.     On  the  other  hand,  lord 
Portland  was  of  a  grave  and  sedate  disposition,  and  indeed, 
adds  the  bishop,  was  thought  rather  too  cold  and  dry,  and 
had  not  the  art  of  creating  friends ;  but  was  indefatigable 
in  business,  and  bad  distinguished  himself  on  many  occa- 
sions.    With  another  author,  Mackey,  his  lordship  has  the 
character  of  carrying  himself  with  a  very  lofty  mien,  yet 
was  not  proud,  nor  much  beloved  nor  hated  by  the  people. 
But  it  is  no  wonder  if  the  earl  of  Portland  was  not  accept- 
able to  the  English  nation.     His  lordship  had  been  for  ten 
years  entirely  trusted  by  the  king,  was  his  chief  favourite 
and  bosom-friend,  and  the  favourites  of  kings  are  seldom 
favourites  of  the  people,  and  it  must  be  owned  king  Wil- 
liam was  immoderately  lavish  to  those  he  personally  loved; 
But  as  long  as  history  has  not  charged  his  memory  with 
,  failings  that  might  deservedly  render  him  obnoxious  to  the 
public,  there  can  be  no  partiality  in  attributing  this  noble- 
man's unpopularity  partly  to  the  above  reasons,  and  partly 
to  his  being  a  foreigner,  for  which  he  suffered  not  a  little 
from  the  envy  and  malice  of  his  enemies,  in  their  speeches, 
libels,    &c.  of  which  there  were  some  levelled   as  well 
against  the  king  as  against  his  lordship.     The  same  aver- 
sion,  however,  to  foreign  favourite?,  soon  after  shewed  itself 
against  lord  Albemarle,  who,  as  he  grew  into  power  and 
favour,  like  lord  Portland,  began  to  be  looked  upon  with 
the  same  jealousy ;  and  when  the  king  gave  him  the  order 
of  the  garter,  in  the  year  1700,  we  are  told  it  was  gene^ 
rally  disliked,  and  his  majesty,  to  make  it  pass  the  better, 
at  the  same  time  conferred  the  like  honour  on  lord  Peow 
broke  (an  English  nobleman  of  illustrious  birth).     Yet  it 
was  observed,  that  few  of  the  nobility  graced  the  ceremony 
of  their  installation  with  their  presence,  and  that  many 
severe  reflections  were  then  made  on  his  majesty,  for  giv* 
ing  the  garter  to  his  favourite.     The  king  had  for  a  long 
time  given  the  earl  of  Portland  the  entire  and  absolute  go- 
vernment of  Scotland ;  and  his  lordship  was  also  employed, 


492  BENTINC  K. 

in  the  year  1693,  in  the  new  negociation  set  on  foot  foi* 
the  succession  of  the  Crown  of  Spain,  called  by  the  name 
of  the  partition  treaty,  the  intention  of  which  being  frus- 
trated by  the  treachery  of  the  French  king,  the  treaty  it- 
self fell  under  severe  censure*,  and  was  looked  upon  as  a 
fatal  slip  in  the  politics  of  that  reign ;  and  lord  Portland 
was  impeached  by  the  house  of  commons,  in  the  year 
1700,  for  advising  and  transacting  it,  as  were  also  the 
other  lords  concerned  with  him  in  it.  This  same  year, 
lord  Portland  was  a  second  time  attacked,  together  with 
lord  Albemarle,  by  the  house  of  commons,  when  the  af- 
fair of  the  disposal  of  the  forfeited  estates  in  Ireland  was 
under  their  consideration  ;  it  appearing  upon  inquiry,  that 
the  king  had,  among  many  other  grants,  made  one  to  lord 
Woodstock  (the  earl  of  Portland's  son)  of  135,820  acres  of 
land,  and  to  lord  Albemarle  two  grants,  of  108,633  acres 
in  possession  and  reversion  ;  the  parliament  came  to  a  re- 
solution to  resume  these  grants ;  and  also  resolved,  that 
the  advising  and  passing  them  was  highly  reflecting  on  the 
king's  honour ;  and  that  the  officers  and  instruments  con- 
cerned in  the  procuring  and  passing  those  grants,  had 
highly  failed  in  the  performance  of  their  trust  and  duty  ; 
and  also,  that  the  procuring  or  passing  exorbitant  grants, 
by  any  member  now  of  the  privy-council,  or  by  any  other 
that  had  been  a  privy -counsellor,  in  this,  or  any  former 
reign,  to  his  use  or  benefit,  was  a  high  crime,  and  misde- 
meanour. To  carry  their  resentment  still  farther,  the 
commons  immediately  impeached  the  earls  of  Portland  and 
Albemarle,  for  procuring  for  themselves  exorbitant  grants. 
This  impeachment,  however,  did  not  succeed,  and  then 
the  commons  voted  an  address  to  his  majesty,  that  no  per- 
son who  was  not  a  native  of  his  dominions,  excepting  his 
royal  highness  prince  George  of  Denmark,  should  be  ad- 
mitted to  his  majesty's  councils  in  England  or  Ireland,  but 
this  was  evaded  by  the  king's  going  the  very  next  day  to 
the  house  of  lords,  passing  the  bills  that  were  ready,  and 
putting  an  end  to  the  session.  The  partition  treaty  was 
the  last  public  transaction  we  find  lord  Portland  engaged 
in,  the  next  year  after  his  impeachment,  1701,  having 
put  a  period  to  the  life  of  his  royal  and  munificent  master, 
king  William  III.;  but  not  without  having  shewn,  even  in 
his  last  moments,  that  his  esteem  and  affection  for  lord 
Portland  ended  but  with  his  life :  for  when  his  majesty 
was  just  expiring,  he  asjsed,  though  with  a  faint  voice,  for 


BENTINC&  493. 

the  earl  of  Portland,  but  before  his  lordship  could  come, 
the  king's  voice  quite  failed  him.  The  earl,  however, 
placing  his  ear  as  near  his  majesty's  mouth  as  could  be,  his 
lips  were  observed  to  move,  but  without  strength  to  ex- 
press his  mind  to  his  lordship ;  but,  as  the  last  testimony 
of  the  cordial  affection  he  bore  him,  he  took  him  by  the 
hand,  and  carried  it  to  his  heart  with  great  tenderness, 
and  expired  soon  after.  His  lordship  had  before  been  a 
witness  to,  and  signed  his  majesty's  last  will  and  testament, 
made  at  the  Hague  in  1695  ;  and  it  is  said,  that  king 
William,  the  winter  before  he  died,  told  lord  Portland,  as 
they  were  walking  together  in  the  garden  at  Hampton 
court,  that  he  found  his  health  declining  very  fast,  and 
that  he  could  not  live  another  summer,  but  charged  his 
lordship  not  to  mention  this  till  after  his  majesty's  death. 
We  are  told,  that  at  the  time  of  the  king's  death,  lord 
Portland  was  keeper  of  Windsor  great  park,  and  was  dis- 
placed upon  queen  Anne's  accession  to  the  throne  :  we  are 
not,  however,  made  acquainted  with  the  time  when  his 
lordship  became  first  possessed  of  that  post.  After  king 
William's  death,  the  earl  did  not,  at  least  openly,  concern 
himself  with  public  affairs,  but  betook  himself  to  a  retired 
life,  in  a  most  exemplary  way,  at  his  seat  at  Bulstrode  in 
the  county  of  Bucks,  where  he  erected  and  plentifully 
endowed. a  free-school;  and  did  many  other  charities. 
His  lordship  had  an  admirable  taste  for  gardening,  and 
took  great  delight  in  improving  and  beautifying  his  own 
gardens,  which  he  made  very  elegant  and  curious.  At 
length,  being  taken  ill  of  a  pleurisy  and  malignant  fever, 
after  about  a  week's  illness  he  died,  November  23,  1709, 
in  the  sixty-first  year  of  his  age,  leaving  behind  him  a  very- 
plentiful  fortune,  being  at  that  time  reputed  one  of  the 
richest  subjects  in  Europe.  His  corpse  being  conveyed  to 
London,  wes,  on  the  third  of  December,  carried  with 
great  funeral  pomp,  from  his  house  in  St.  James's  square 
to  Westminster-abbey,  and  there  interred  in  the  vault 
under  the  east  window  of  Henry  the  Seventh's  chapel. 

Henry,  his  son,  second  earl,  was  created.duke  of  Port- 
land, 1716,  and  having  incurred  great  loss  of  fortune  by 
the  South  Sea  bubble,  went  over  as  governor  to  Jamaica, 
1722,  and  died  there  1726,  aged  forty-five,  William  his 
son,  second  duke,  who  died  in  1762,  married  lady  Mar- 
garet Cavendish  Harley,  only  child  of  the  second  earl  of 
Oxford,  and  heiress  to  the  vast  estates  of  the  Cavendishes, 


49*  B  E  N  T  I  N  C  K. 

formerly  dukes  of  Newcastle.  This  lady,  after  the  duke's 
death,  lived  with  splendid  hospitality  at  Bulstrode,  which 
was  the  resort  not  only  of  persons  of  the  highest  rank,  but 
of  those  most  distinguished  for  talents  and  eminence  in  the 
literary  world.  To  her,  posterity  will  ever  be  indebted, 
for  securing  to  the  public  the  inestimable  treasures  of 
learning  contained  in  the  noble  manuscript  library  of  her 
father  and  grandfather,  earls  of  Oxford,  now  deposited  in 
the  British  museum,  by  the  authority  of  parliament,  under 
the  guardianship  of  the  most  distinguished  persons  of  the 
realm,  easy  of  access,  and  consequently  of  real  use  to  the 
philosopher,  the  statesman,  the  historian,  and  the  scholar. 
She  died  July  17,  1785,  and  the  following  year  her  own 
museum,  collected  atvastexpence  to  herself  and  increased 
by  some  valuable  presents  from  her  friends,  was  disposed 
of  by  auction,  by  the  late  Mr.  Alderman  Skinner.  The 
sale  lasted  thirty-seven  days.  Among  the  books  was  the 
fine  Missal,  known  by  the  name  of  the  Bedford  Missal, 
of  which  Mr.  Gough  published  an  account,  as  will  be  no- 
ticed in  his  life.  This  splendid  volume  was  purchased  by, 
and  is  now  in  the  very  curious  and  valuable  library  of  James 
Edwards,  esq.  of  Harrow-on-the-hill.  * 

BENTINCK  (William  Henry  Cavendish),  third  duke 
of  Portland,  was  born  in  1738,  and  educated  at  Christ- 
church,  Oxford,  where  he  was  created  M.  A.  Feb.  1,  1757. 
He  afterwards  travelled  for  some  time  on  the  continent, 
and  on  his  return  was  elected  M.  P.  for  Weobly,  but  in 
1762  was  called  up  to  the  house  of  peers  on  the  death  of 
his  father.  From  that  period,  we  find  him  generally  di- 
viding on  important  questions  with  the  minority,  and  having 
connected  himself  with  the  late  marquis  of  Rockingham, 
during  that  nobleman's  short-lived  administration  in  1765, 
he  held  the  office  of  lord  chamberlain.  In  1767-8,  his 
grace  was  involved  in  a  long  dispute  with  government  re- 
specting the  grant  of  the  forest  of  Inglewood  to  sir  James 
Lowther,  which  had  been  part  of  the  estates  belonging  to 
the  duke's  ancestors,  but  by  a  decision  of  the  court  of  ex- 
chequer in  1771,  the  grant  was  declared  to  be  illegal* 
During  the  progress  of  the  American  war,  his  grace  con*  m 
tinued  invariably  to  vote  with  the  party  who  opposed  the 
measures  of  administration,    and  becanqe  perhaps  more 

*  Biog.  Brit.— Granger's  letters,  vol.  L  p.  9— H;   vol.  IL  p.  96»— Artie's 
Origin  of  Writing,  p.  xxi,  fcc»  &c. 


BENTINCK.  495 

closely  united  to  them  by  his  marriage  with  lady  Dorothy 
Cavendish,  sister  to  the  duke  of  Devonshire.  When  the 
administration  of  lord  North,  which  had  conducted  that 
unfortunate  war,  was  dissolved  in  1782,  and  replaced  by 
the  marquis  of  Rockingham,  and  his  friends,  the  duke  of 
Portland  was  appointed  lord-lieutenant  of  Ireland,  but 
owing  to  the  death  of  the  marquis,  he  remained  in  this 
office  only  about  three  months.  In  consequence  of  the 
same  event,  some  of  the  party  were  for  earl  Fitzwilliam, 
and  some  for  the  duke  of  Portland,  as  the  ostensible  head 
of  the  new  arrangement,  but  in  the  mean  time  his  majesty, 
preferred  the  earl  of  Shelburne,  Mr.  Pitt,  &c.  The  me- 
morable coalition  then  took  place  between  lord  North  and 
Mr.  Fox,  supported  by  many  of  the  friends  of  the  latter ; 
but  soon  was  not  more  unacceptable  to  his  majesty  than  to 
the  nation,  whose  confidence  in*  public  professions  was 
shaken  to  a  degree  of  indifference  from  which  perhaps  it 
has  never  since  recovered.  The  coalition-ministry,  how- 
ever, having  the  voice  of  the  house  of  commons  in  their 
favour,  his  majesty  determined  to  appeal  to  the  people  by 
a  general  election,  the  issue  of  which  was  completely  un- 
favourable to  his  graced  friends ;  and  Mr.  Pitt,  who  had 
been  appointed  first  lord  of  the  treasury  and  chancellor  of 
the  exchequer,  found  a  decided  majority  of  the  parliament 
and  of  the  country  on  his  side.  An  attempt  was  indeed 
made  to  engage  Mr.  Pitt  and  the  duke  in  the  same  ad- 
ministration, but  as  the  latter  insisted  as  a  preliminary, 
that  Mr.  Pitt  should  resign,  the  negociation  was  soon 
broken  off. 

From  that  time  his  grace  continued  to  act  with  the  op- 
position until  1792,  when  he  was,  although  not  without 
opposition,  elected  chancellor  of  the  university  of  Oxford, 
and  soon  after,  being  alarmed  at  the  progress  of  the  French 
revolution  in  the  destruction  of  every  venerable  establish- 
ment, and  particularly  at  the  pains  taken  to  disseminate 
disorganizing  principles  in  this  country,  his  grace,  with 
the  celebrated  Mr.  Burke,  and  other  friends  of  the  party, 
agreed  to  support  the  measures  of  administration.  Ac- 
cordingly, in  1794,  he  was  appointed  secretary  of  state 
for  the  home  department,  which  he  held  until  Mr.  Pitt's 
administration  resigned  in  1801.  He  wap  then  appointed 
president  of  the  council,  which  he  held  until  1805.  On 
the  resignation  of  lord  Grenville,  he  was  appointed,  in  April 
1 807,  first  lord  of  the  treasury,  which  he  resigned  soon 


496  B  E  N  T  I  N  C  K. 

after,  and  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  Perceval.     He  had  long 
been  afflicted  with  the  stone,  for  which  he  underwent  the. 
operation,  apparently  successfully,  but  the  duration  of  the. 
disease  had  undermined  his  constitution,  and  he  died  Oct. 
30,  1809. 

The  duke  of  Portland  was  not  a  man  of  brilliant  parts,  . 
nor  considered  of  eminence  as  a  speaker ;  but  his  rank, 
vast  property,  conciliatory  manners,  and  above  all,  his. 
integrity,  gave  him  considerable  weight  as  a  public  cha- 
racter, and  rendered  his  loss  to  the  party  which  he  left, 
severely  felt.  He  uniformly  enjoyed  the  friendship  and 
attachment  of  Mr.  Burke,  and,  as  chancellor  of  Oxford, 
was  discriminating,  judicious,  and  liberal  in  his  patronage 
of  men  of  merit. l 

BENTIVOGLIO  (Hercules),  one  of  the  best  Italian 
poets  of  the  sixteenth  Century,  was  born  at  Bologna  in 
1506,  of  one  of  the  most  illustrious  families  of  that  city  and 
of  all  Italy.  His  father,  Hannibal  II.  being  obliged,  by.1 
pope  Julius  II.  to  leave  his  country,  of  which  his  ancestors  : 
had  been  masters  from  the  commencement  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  and  to  go  to  Milan,  he  took  his  son  with  him,  then 
an  infant.  Seven  years  after,  he  settled  with  his  whole  fa- 
mily at  Ferrara,  under  the  protection  of  the  princes  of  the 
house  of  Este,  to  whom  he  was  nearly  related^  His  son 
here  made  rapid  progress  in  his  studies,  and  became  dis- 
tinguished at  the  court  of  duke  Alphonso  I.  He  was  ac-  -. 
complished  in  music,  singing,  and  the  sports  and  exercises 
of  manly  youth  ;  and  to  all  this  he  added  a  solidity  of  judg- 
ment which  procured  him  to  be  employed  by  the  dukes  of 
Ferrara  in  state-affairs  of  importance.  He  was  employed  - 
on  one  of  these  negociations  when  he  died,  Nov.  6,  1573. 
His  works,  which  were  printed  at  first  separately,  and  in- 
serted in  many  of  the  collections,  were  published  together  ' 
under  the  title  of  "  Opere  poetiche  del  sig.  Ercole  Benti- 
voglio,"  Paris,  1719,  12mo.  They  consist  of  sonnets/ 
stanzas,  eclogues,  satires,  which  for  easy  elegance  of  style 
are.  inferior  only  to  those  of  Ariosto ;  five  epistles  or  capU 
toli%  in  the  manner  of  Berni,  and  two  comedies  of  great 
merit.  Of  these  last  there  was  a  French  translation  by  Fa* 
bre,  printed  at  Oxford,  1731,  8vo.  * 

i  Gent  Mag.  vol.  LXXIX. — Annual  Register,  passim,  &c. 
*  Biog.  UniTerselie.— Life  prefixed  to  the  Paris  edition.— Moreri.—SaMii  Oik* 
masticoa*. 


BENTTVOGLia  #9f 

I  BENTIVOGLIO  (Guy  or  Ginbo),  celebrated  in  tta* 
Romish  church  as  a  cardinal,  and  in  literature  as  a  histo- 
rian, was  of  the  same  family  with  the  preceding,  and  bowi 
at  Ferrara  in  1579.  After  studying  there  for  some  time*  he 
went  to  Padua,  where  he  soon  bad  occasion  to  display  hi* 
prudence  and  address.  When  pope  Clement  VIII.  was  de- 
termined to  take  possession  of  Ferrara,  under  the  pretenc* 
that  Caesar  of  Este,  who  succeeded  the  childless  duke  Al- 
phonsus,  was  of  an  illegitimate  branch,  the  marquis  Hip^ 
polyto  Bentivoglio,  brother  to  Guy,  a  general  officer  in  the 
service  of  Alphonsus,  and  attached  to  Caesar,  excited  the 
anger  of  cardinal  Aldobrandini,  who  commanded  the  expe- 
dition, under  the  title  of  General  of  the  holy  church,  Guy; 
who  was  now  only  nineteen  years  old,  went  immediately  to 
the  cardinal,  to  negociate  for  his  brother,  by  the  mediation  of 
cardinal  Bandini,  a  friend  to  his  family,  and  contributed 
very  essentially  to  make  his  brother's  peace,  after  the 
treaty  had  been  concluded  between  the  pope  and  the  duke 
in  January  1598.  The  pope  having  gone  in  person  to  take 
possession  of  Ferrara,  admitted  young  Bentivoglio  into  his 
presence,  and  gave  him  the  title  of  his  private  chamber- 
lain. 

After  he  had  passed  some  years  at  Rome,  where  he  made 
many  friends,  pope  Paul  V.  appointed  him  his  referendary, 
and  sent  him,  with  the  title  of  archbishop  of  Rhodes,  as 
apostolic  nuncio,  into  Flanders,  where  he  arrived  in  1607. 
After  remaining  there  nine  years,  be  was,  in  1617,  appoint- 
ed nuncio  in  France,  and  acted  with  so  much  dexterity 
with  respect  to  tbexafTairs  <of  both  courts,  that  when  he  was 
made  cardinal,  Jan.  1 l,  1621,  Louis  XIII.  chose  him  to  be 
the  agent  of  France  at  the  court  of  Rome.  Here  he  soon 
became  the  confidential  friend  of  pope  Urban  VIII.  who, 
in  1641,  bestowed  on  him  the  bishopric  of  Palestrina.  On 
the  death  of  this  pope  in  1 644,  it  was  generally  thought  that 
cardinal  Bentivoglio  would  be  his  successor ;  but  he  had 
scarcely  entered  the  conclave* when  the  heat  overpowered 
him,  and  brought  on  a  fever,  of  which  he  died- September 
7,  of  that  year,  Hfe  w|ts  interred  in  the  church  of  the 
Theatins  of  St.  Silvester,  hi  a  private  manner*  agreeably  to 
his  own  desire,  owing  to  his  affairs  being  deranged.  He 
owed  large,  sums  at  hi*  death,  in  order  to  pay  part  of  which 
he  bad  been  obliged,r  sometime  before,  to  sell  his  palace 
a*  Rome*  A  magnificent  style  of  living  was  then  one  of 
the  means  by  which  the  Romish  ecclesiastics  endeavoured 

Vol.  IV.  Kk 


m  BENTIVOGLIOi 

to  acquire  the  humble  title  of  "  Servant  of  servants,"  and 
Bentivoglio  had  not  neglected  this  or  any  other  expedient. 
He  was  in  truth  a  consummate  politician,  knew  bow  to  re- 
concile clashing  interests,  and  how  to  assume  every  neces* 
tary  change  of  character ;  his  historical  memoirs  partake 
of  this  character,  being  cautious,  reserved,  yet  amusing 
tnd  illustrative  of  the  characters  and  events  of  the  timed 
it)  which  he  lived.  His  works  are,  1.  "  Relazioni  del 
card.  Bentivoglio  in  tempo  delle  sue  nunziature  di  Fian- 
dra  e  di  Francia,  date  in  luce  da  Ericio  Puteano  (Henry 
Dupuy),  Antwerp,  1629;  Cologne,  1630;  Paris,  1631 ;  ail 
in  4to ;  translated  into  English  by  Henry  earl  of  Mon*. 
mouth,  London,  1652,  folio.  2.  "  Delia  guerra  di  Fiati-* 
dra,"  in  six  books,  printed  at  various  tiroes,  but  all  included 
in  the  edition  of  Cologne,  1639,  4to,  which  is  considered  as 
the  best.  This  likewise  was  translated  into  English  by  the 
earl  of  Monmouth,  1654,  folio.  3.  "  (Uccolta  di  letters 
scritte  in  tempo  delle  sue  nunziature  di  Fiandra  efc  di  Fran* 
cia,"  Cologne,  1 63 1,  4to.  A  fine  edition  of  this  was  lately 
published  by  M.  Biagioli,  at  Didot's  press*  Paris,  1807, 
12mo,  with  French  notes,  grammatical  and  philosophical, 
and  a  literal  translation  was  published  at  London,  1764,  for 
the  use  of  learners  of  the  Italian  tongue,  but  it  was  feebly 
executed.  In  1727,  an  edition  of  the  original  was  printed 
at  Cambridge.  4.  "  Memorie,  ovvero  dtario  del  cardinal 
Pentivpglio,"  Amst.  1643,  Svo.  He  wrote  these  memoirs 
in  1642$  with  a  view,  as  he  says  in  his  preface,  to  please 
himself,  and  be  relates  what  he  would  wish  posterity  to 
know  of  his  history  and  character.  The  whole  of  his.  works, 
with  the  exception  of  his  "  Memoirs,1.'  were  published  to- 
gether at  Pari*,  1 645,  folio,  aed  apparently  reprinted  1648, 
but  .this  is  the  same  publication  with  a  new  title-page. 
They  were  also  printed,  including  the  Memoirs,  at  Venice, 
1668,  4to.1 

BENTIVOGLIO  (Hywolitus),  of  Arragon,  of  the  fa- 
mily of  the  Bentivoglios  of  Bologna,  but  only  collaterally 
related  to  that  of  the  cardinal,  was  born  at  Ferrara,  about 
the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century ^  'He  bore  the  titles  of 
a  nobleman  of  Ferrara,  Venice,  and  Bologna,  was  marquis 
of  Magliano  and  count  of  Antignato.  He  studied  first  in 
Italy,  and  afterwards  at  Paris,  and  then  embraced  a  mili- 
tary life,  and  served  in  the  rank  of  captain,  in  Flanders,  ia 
1^88,    On  his  return  to  Italy,  be  made  the  tour  of  the 

*  JGliog.  Universale.— Mweri,— Erjtfcr*w  Pioacothcc*.— Saxii  Onomatticoo. 


bestitog  t  i;o;  4*S» 

different  eobrts,  and  being  at  that  of  Modeoa  when  the* 
duke  Fraiieis  was  about  to  depart  for  the  aiege  of  Pavift,  h$ 
went  with  him  as  coloneltof  cavalry,  and  distinguished  him- 
self. To  the  science  of  arms  he  joined  those  of  literature, 
was  well  acquainted  witt  Greek,  Latin,  several  modem? 
languages,  music,  and  architecture,  both  civil  and  military. 
He  is  said  likewise  to  have  invented  some  ingenious  machi- 
nery for  the  Italian  stage,  his  turn  being  particularly  to* 
dramatic  poetry;  and  he  was  also  a  member  of  various  aca- 
demies. He  died  at  Eerrara,  February  1,  J  685.  On  the 
Ferrara  stage  he  produced  three  dramas  :  "  L'Annibale  in 
Capoa,"  "  La  Filli  di  Tracia,"  and  "  L' Achille  in  Sciro  ;'t 
the  latter  was  printed  at  Ferrara,  1663,  12mo.  He  wrote 
also  *'  Tiridate,"  represented  on  the  Venetian  stage,  and 
printed  1668,  12mo;  and  a  comedy  in  prose,  "  Impegn* 
perdisgracia,"  which  was  published  after  his  death,  at.  Mo-  « 
dena,  1687.  His  lyric  poems  are  in  various  collections, 
but  principally  in  "  Rime  scelte  de'  poeti  Ferraresi." l 

BENTIVOGLIO  (Cornelius),  of  Arragon,  a  cardinal 
and  poet,  one  Qf  the  sons  of  the  preceding,  was  born  at 
Ferrara,  March  27,  166$,  and  in  the  course  of  his  studies, 
distinguished  himself  by  the  progress  he  made  in  the  belles- 
lettres,  philosophy,  theology,  and  law,  and  was  an  able  and 
successful  supporter  of  the  literary  establishments  of  his 
eountiy.  Having  afterwards  gone  to  reside  at  Rome,  he 
was  promoted  by  Clement  XI.  to  be  his  domestic  prelate, 
and  clerk  of  the  apostolic  chamber,  and  in  1712  was  sent  as 
nuncio  to  Franoey  with  the  title  of  archbishop  of  Carthage* 
There,  having  discovered  much  zeal  in  the  affair  of  the  bull. 
Unigenitns,  he  acquired  high  favour  at  the  court  qf  Louis. 
XIV*  which  be  did  not  preserve  after  the  death  of  that  mo- 
narch. The  pope,  on  that  event,  recalled  him  from  Paris, 
and  at  Ferrara  he  was  made  cardinal  in  November,  1719* 
He  then  settled  at  Rome,  where  many  other  dignities  were 
conferred  upon  him,  and  where  he  died,  December  30, 
1732.  Amidst  his  whole  career  of  ecclesiastical  promotions. 
and  duties,  he  found  leisure  to  cultivate  his  taste  for  polite 
literature.  There  are  extant  several  of  his  harangues  pro-* 
Bounced  on  various  occasions ;  that  which  he  delivered  at 
Rome,  in  the  academy  of  design,  in  which  he  investigates 
the  uses,  to  taste  and  morals,  of  the  arts  of  painting,  sculp* 
ture,  and  architecture,  was  printed  under  the  titl$  "  Utile 

1  Biof .  Uoircrf  ellK 
KK  2 


100  BENTIVOGLIO. 

delle  belle  art!  riconosciuto  per  l'accademia  del  disegno, 
orazione, "  &c.  Rome,  1 707,  and  reprinted  in  vol-  IL  of  the 
"  Prose  degli  Arcadi." .  The  work,  however,  which  en- 
titles him  to  a  place  among  the  poets  of  Italy,  is  his  beau- 
tiful translation  of  Statius,  "  La  Tebaida  di  Stazio  tradotto 
in  verso  sciolto  da  Selvaggio  Porpora,"  (a  fictitious  name), 
Rome,  1 729,  4to;  Milan,  1731,2  vols.  4 to.  There  are  be- 
sides some  of  his  sonnets  in  the  collections.  His  brother 
Louis  and  his  sister  Cornelia  were  also  cultivators  of  poetry. 
The  latter,  who  died  in  17 11,, is  highly  spoken  of  by  Cres- 
cembini  in  his  history  of  the  academy  of  the  Arcadians  of 
Rome.1 

BENTLEY  (Richard),  regius  professor  of  divinity,  and 
master  of  Trinity  college,  Cambridge,  a  very  eminent  critic 
of  the  last  age,  was  born  January  27,  1661*2,  at  Oulton,  in 
the  parish  of  Wakefield,  in  the  West  Riding  of  Yorkshire. 
|iis  ancestors,  who  were  of  some  consideration,  possessed 
an  estate,  and  had  a  seat  at  Hepenstall,  in  the  parish  of  Ha- 
lifax. His  grandfather,  James  Bentley,  was  a  captain  in 
king  Charles  I.'s  army,  at  the  time  of  the  ciyii  wars,  and  be* 
ing  involved  in  the  fate  of  his  party,  had  his  house  plun- 
dered, his  estate  confiscated,  and  was  himself  carried  pri- 
soner to  Pomfret  castle,  where  he  died.  Thomas  Bentley, 
the  son  of  James,  and  father  of  Dr.  Bentley,  married  the 
daughter  of  Richard  Willis  of  Oulton,  who  had  been  a  ma- 
jor in  the  royal  army.  This  lady,  who  was  a  woman  of  ex- 
ceeding good  understanding,  taught  her  son  Richard  his 
accidence.  To  his  grandfather  Willis,  who  was.l^ft  his 
guardian,  he  was,  in  part,  indebted  for  his  education  ;  and' 
having  gone  through  the  grammar-school  at  Wakefield  with 
singular  reputation,  both  for  his  proficiency  and  his  exact 
and  regular  behaviour,  he  was  admitted  of  St.  John's  col- 
lege, Cambridge,  under  the  tuition  of.  Mr.  Johnson,  on  the 
24th  of  May,  1676,  being  then  only  four  months  above 
fourteen  years  of  age.  On  the  2 2d  of  March,  1681-2,  he 
stood  candidate  for  a  fellowship,  and  would  have  been  una- 
nimously elected,  had  he  not  been  excluded  by  the  sta- 
tutes, on  account  of  his  being  too  young  for  priest's  orders. 
He  was  then  a  junior  bachelor,  and  but  little  more  than 
nineteen  years  old.  It  was  toon  after  this  that  he,  became 
a  schoolmaster  at  Spalding.  But  that  he  did  not  continue 
Long  in  this  situation  is.  certain  from  a  letter  of  his.  grandfa* 


B  E  N  T  L  E  Y.  501 

iter  Willis's,  still  preserved  in  the  family,  from  which  it 
appears  that  he  was  with  Dr.  Stillingfleet,  at  the  deanery  of 
St.  Paul's,  on  the  25th  of  April,  1683.     He  had  been  re- 
commended by  his  college  to  the  dean,  as  preceptor  to  his 
son ;   and  Dr.  Stillingfleet  gave  Mr.  Bentley  his  choice, 
whether  he  would  carry  his  pupil  to  Cambridge  or  Oxford. 
He  fixed  upon  the  latter  university,  on  account  of  the  Bod- 
leian library,  to  the  consulting  of  the  manuscripts  of  which 
he  applied  with  the  closest  attention.     Being  now  of  age, 
he  made  over  a  small  estate,  which  he  derived  from  his  fa- 
mily, to  his  elder  brother,  and  immediately  laid  out  the 
money  he  obtained  for  it  in  the  purchase  of  books.     It  is 
recorded  of  him,  that  having,  at  a  very  early  age,  made 
surprising  progress  in  the  learned  languages,  his  capacity 
for  critical  learning  soon  began  to  display  itself.     Before 
the  age  of  twenty-four,  he  had  written  with  his  own  hand 
a  sort  of  Hexapla,  a  thick  volume  in  4to,  in  the  first  column 
of  which  was  every  word  of  the  Hebrew  bible,  alphabetically 
disposed,  and  in  five  other  columns  all  the  various  interpre- 
tations of  those  words,  in  the  Chaldee,  Syriac,  Vulgate  La-» 
tin,  Septuagint,  and  Aquila,  Symmachus,  and  Theodosian, 
that  occur  in  the  whole  Bible.     This  he  made  for  his  own 
private  use,  to  know  the  Hebrew,  not  from  the  late  rabbins, 
but  the  ancient  versions,  when,  excepting  Arabic,  Persic, 
and  Ethiopic,  he  must  then  have  read  over  the  whole  Poly* 
glott.     He  had  also  at  that  time  made,  for  his  own  private 
use,  .another  volume  in  4 to,  of  the  various  lections  and 
emendations  of  the  Hebrew  text,  drawn  out  of  those  ancient 
versions,  which,  though  done  at  such  an  early  age,  would 
have  made  a  second  part  to  the  famous  CapellusV"  C mi- 
ca Sacra." 

On  the  4th  of  July,  1689,  being  already  M.A.  in  the 
university  of  Cambridge,  he  was  incorporated  as  such  in 
the  university  of  Oxford,  in  Wadham  college,  and  is  men* 
tioned  by  Anthony  Wood  (though  then  but  a  young  man, 
a  good  deal  under  thirty)  as  a  genius  that  was  promising, 
and  to  whom  the  world  was  likely  to  be  obliged,  for  his  fai- 
lure studies  and  productions.  In  1691  he  published  a  La* 
tin  epistle  to  John  Mill,  D.D.  -containing  some  critical 
observations  relating  to  Johannes  Malala,  Greek  historio- 
grapher, published  at  the  end  of  that  author,  at  Oxon,  in 
1691,  in  a  large  8vo.  This  was  the  first  piece  that  our 
author  published.  Nor  was  religion  less  indebted  to  him 
than  learning,  foe  io  1C91-2,  he  bad  the  hcmQiir  to  be  &e~ 


503  BENTLEYj 

lected  as  the  first  person  to  preach  at  Boyle's  lecture* 
(founded  by  that  honourable  gentleman,  to  assert  and  vin- 
dicate the  great  fundamentals  of  natural  and  revealed  reli- 
gion)^ upon  which  occasion  he  successfully  applied  sir  Isaac 
Newton's  "  Principia  Mathematical*  to  demonstrate  the 
being  of  God,  and  altogether  silenced  the  Atheists,  who,  in 
this  country,  have  since  that  time,  for  the  most  part,  shel- 
tered themselves  under  Deism.     The  subjeet  of  his  dis~ 
courses  was  the  folly  of  atheism,  even  with  respect  to  the 
present  life,  and  that  matter  and  motion  cannot  think;  bra 
confutation  of  atheism  from  the  faculties  of  the  soul,  from 
the  structure  and  origin  of  human  bodies,  and  the  origin 
and  frame  of  the  world  itself;   and  though  he  was  but 
young,  and  even  only  in  deacon's  orders,  he  laid  the  basis 
and  foundation  upon  which  all  the  successors  to  that  worthy 
office  have  since  built.     Though  this  was  a  task  of  great 
extent,  and  no  small  difficulty,  yet  Mr.  Bentley  acquitted 
himself  with  so  much  reputation,  that  the  trustees  not  only 
publicly  thanked  him*  for  them,  but  did  moreover,  by  espe- 
cial command  and  desire,  prevail  upon  him  to  make  the 
$aid  discourses  public,  upon  which  he  gave  the  world  a  vo- 
lume, 1693,  4to,  containing  eight  sermons,  which  have  not 
only  undergone  a  number  of  editions,  but  have  been  trans- 
lated abroad  into  several  languages.     On  the  Sd  of  OctOr 
ber,  1692,  he  was  installed  a  prebendary  of  Worcester  by 
bishop  Stillingfleet.     Upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Jusiel,  Mr.. 
JJentley  was  immediately  thought  upon  to  succeed  him,  as 
keeper  of  the  royal  library  at  St.  James's ;  arid  accordingly, 
a  few  months  after  his  decease,  he  had  a  warrant  made  out 
for  that  place,  from  the  secretary's  office,  December  23, 
} 693,  and  had  his  patent  for  the  same  in  April  following. 
Soon  after  he  was  nominated  to  that  office,  before  his  pa- 
tent was  signed,  by  his  care  and  diligence  he  procured  no 
)ess  than  a  thousand  volumes  of  one  sort  or  other,  which 
had  been  neglected  to" be  brought  to  the  library,  according 
to  the  act  of  parliament  then  subsisting,  which  prescribed 
£bat  one  copy  of  every  book  printed  in  England,  should 
be  brought  and  lodged  in  this  library,   and  one  in  each 
ijniversfty  library,     ft  was  about  this  time  and  upon  this 
occasion  of  his  being  made  library-keeper,  that  the  famous 
dispute  betweei)  him  and  the  honourable  Mr.  Boyle,  whe- 
ther the  epistles  of  Phalaris  were  genuine  or  not,  in  some 
measure,  at  first  took  rise,  which  gave  occasion  to  so  many 
books  and  pamphlets,  aud  has  made  so  much  poise  in  th« 


BE  N  T  L  E  Y>  .  $0% 

world.  This  controversy  upon  a  point  of  learning,  in  itself 
not  very  entertaining,  was  managed  with  a  wit  aud  humout 
wnk'h  rendered  it  interesting  to  the  public.  The  work! 
was  at  that  time  a  little  biassed  in  favour  of  the  production 
pf  tne  you«>g  nobleman,  at  least  as  to  the  genteel  raillery 
of  bis  p  e.es ;  for  as  to  the  dispute  itself,  viz.  the  genuine* 
ness  of  ine  Episties  of  Pbaiaris,  the  best  judges  almost  uni- 
versally no  *v  give  the  preference  to  Dr.  Bentley;  nor  does 
he  inuch,  if  at  ail,  fall  short  of  Mr.  Boyle,  in  throwing  a  deal 
of  lite  and  spirit  into  the  controversy,  particularly  in  his 
answer  to  Mr.  Boyle,  which  is  interspersed,  as  well  as  Mr* 
Boyle's  piece,  with  abundance  of  wit  and  humour,  and  is, 
upon  the  wtiole,  reckoned  much  the  best  book.  When,  in 
169«,  he  was  admitted  to  his  degree  of  D.  D.  he  preached,  - 
on  the  day  of  the  public  commencement,  from  I  Peter  iii. 
15.  "  Be  ready  always  to  give  an  answer  to  every  man 
that  a^keth  you  a  reason  of  the  hope  that  is  in  you." 
About  this  time  the  university  entered  upon,  a  design  of 
publishing  some  editions,  in  4to,  of  some  classic  authors, 
for  the  use  of  the  duke  of  Gloucester.  Dr.  Bentley,  who 
was  consulted  upon  the  occasion,  advised  Laughton,  to 
whose  care  the  edition  of  Virgil  was  committed,  to  follow 
Heinsius  very  close,  but  his  advice  was  not  complied 
with.  Terence  was  published  by  Leng,  Horace  by  Talbot, 
and  Catullus,  Tibullus,  and  Properties,  by  Mr.  Annesley, 
afterwards  earl  of  Anglesey.  Dr.  Bentley  procured  from 
Holland  the  types  with  which  these  books  were,  printed. 
At  the  express  desire  or  his  friend  Mr.  Graevius,  he  pub- 
lished his  "  Animadversions  and  remarks  on  the  poet  Cal- 
limachus,"  making,  at  the  same  time,  a  collection  of  some 
scattered  pieces  or  fragments  of  that  author.  These  he 
finished  and  sent  over  to  Mr.  Gr&vius,  towards  the  latter 
end  of  his  dispute  with  Mr.  Boyle,  and  Mr.  Grcevius  pub- 
lished them  abroad  in  1697.  In  1700>  upon  the  death  of 
Dr.  Montague,  he  was  by  the  crown  presented  to  the  mas- 
tership of  Trinity-college,  Cambridge,  which  is  reckoned 
worth  near  1000/  per  annum,  upon  obtaining  which  pre- 
ferment he  resigned  his  prebend  of  Worcester;  but  June 
12,  170i,  on  Dr.  Say  well's  death,  he  was  collated  arch- 
deacon of  Ely.  What  next  employed  his  critical  genius 
were  the  two  first  comedies  of  Aristophanes.  Upon  these 
he  made  some  curious  annotations,  which  were  published  at 
Amsterdam  in  4  7 10;  as  was  much  about  the  same  time,  at 
RJieims,  hi*  emendations,  &c.  on  the  fragments  of  Menan* 


«04  B  E  N  T  L  E  Y. 

ller  and  Philemon,  in  the  feigned  name  of  "  Phileleuthenw 
lapaiensis."  Under  this  character  he  appeared  again,  in 
1713}  in  remarks  upon  Collinses  discourse  of  free-thinking, 
a  book  which  had  made  no  small  noise  in.  the  world  at  that 
time.  This  he  handles  and  confutes  in  a  critical,  learned* 
and  yet  familiar  manner.  Before  his  Remarks,  on  Free* 
thinking,  in  1711,  came  forth  his  so  long-expected  and  ce- 
lebrated edition  of  Horace.  What  he.  intended,  was  not 
properly  to  explain  his  author,  but  only  to  correct  what  he 
judged  remained  still  corrupted  in  the  text,  as  he  himself 
tells  us  in  his  preface ;  and  this  by  the  help  and  assistance, 
either  of  ancient  manuscripts,  old  editions,  or  by  conjee* 
ture.  This,  it  must  be  confessed,  was  a  nice  and  danger- 
ous undertaking,  but  he  succeeded  at  least  in  correcting 
a  much  greater  number  of  passages  than  any,  or  all  his 
former  interpreters,  ever  had  done  ;  furnishing  us,  in  this 
his  new  edition  of  pur  elegant  Roman  poet,  with  a  great 
number  of  very  plausible,  and  probable,  and  unquestion- 
ably, .some  genuine  emendations*  Le  Clerc  abroad  was 
Bentley's  chief  opponent  in  this  edition.  .  At  home,  in  the 
year  following  the  doctor's  edition,  viz.  1712,  came  out, 
by  various  hands,  the  odes  and  epodes  of  Horace,  in  six* 
penny  numbers,  making  in  the  whole,  two  volumes  in  8vo  ; 
the  titles  of  which  are  "  The  odes  and  epodes  of  Horace 
in  Latin  and  English,  with. a  translation  of  Dr.  Bentley's 
notes.  To  which  are  added  notes  upon  notes,  done  in  the 
Beutleian  style  and  manner."  In  the  preface  they  "  hunt* 
bly  hope  that  the  reader-  will  encourage  the  following 
essays,  upon  several  accounts.  First,  as  they  are  designed 
to  shew  him  the  best  author  of  Augustus's  age  in  bis  native 
purity.  Secondly,  to  give  him  a  further  proof  how  far  all 
attempts  to  render  him  into  English;  even  after  the  best 
version,  now  extant  has  succeeded  no  better,  must  fall  short 
of  the  original*  Thirdly,  to  convince  him  bow  ridiculous 
it  is  to  presume,  to  correct  Horacb  without  authority,  upon, 
the  pretended  strength  of  superior  judgment  in  poetry; 
And  lastly,  how  easily  such  a  presumption  maybe  turned 
upon  the  authors,  and  sufficiently  expose  them  in  tbeic 
own  way."  This  last  paragraph  seems  indeed  tp  expr£s* 
the  greatest  part  of  the  design  of  this  work,  which  is  exe-» 
cuted  with  a  great  deal  of  spirit  and  humour.:  On  the.  5th 
of  November,  1715,  the  doctor  preached  a  sermon  before, 
the  university  against  popery,  on  which,  somebody  soon 
after  published  remarks,  which  occasioned  Dr.  Beutley't 


BENTLEY.  ¥U 

answer,  entitled  "Reflections on  tbe scandalous  aspersion* 
cast  on  tbe  Clergy,  by  the  author  of  the  Remarks  on  t>r« 
Bentley's  Sermon  on  Popery,  &c."     This  was  printed  m 
17 17,  in  8vo.     In  1716,  at  which  time  he  succeeded  to  the 
chair  of  Regius  professor  of  divinity,  the  doctor  had  two 
printed  letters  inscribed  to  him,  dated  Jam  1,  to  which  also 
was  added  his  answer,  concerning  his  intended  edition  of 
the  Creek  Testament,  giving  some  account  of  what  was  to 
be  expected  in  that  edition ;  and  in  .them  we  are  informed, 
that  he  intended  to  make  no  use  of  any  manuscript  in  this 
edition  that  was  not  a  thousand  years  old  or  above ;  of 
which  sort  he  bad  got  at  that  time  twenty-  together  in  his 
study,  which  made  up,  one  with  another,  20,000  years* 
After  having  had  this  affair  in  agitation  for  about  four  years, 
be  at  last  published  proposals  for  it,  which  met  with  great 
encouragement.     But  soon  after  came  out  Remarks,  para- 
graph by  paragraph,  on  these  proposals,  by  Dr.  Conyers 
Middleton*  as  it  afterwards  appeared,  who  sets  out  by  as- 
suring his  reader,  that  it  was  neither  personal  spleen,  nor 
envy  to  the  author  of  the  Proposals,  that  drew  the  follow- 
ing remarks  from  him,  but  a  serious  conviction  that  Dr, 
Bentley  bad  neither  talents  nor  materials  proper  for  the 
work,  and.  that  religion  was  much  more  likely  to  receive 
detriment  than  service  from  it,     "  The  time,  manner,  and 
other  circumstances  of  these  proposals,"  says  he,  "  make 
it  but  too  evident,  that  they  were  hastened  out  to  serve 
quite  different  ends  than  those  of  common  Christianity ; 
and  I  think  it  my  duty  to  obviate,  as  far  as  I  am  able,  the 
influence  they  might  have  on  some,  whom  big  words,  and 
.  bold  attempts,  are  apt  to  lead  implicitly  into  an  high  opi- 
nion and  admiration  of  the  merit  and  abilities  of  tbe  under- 
taker."    Dr.  Middleton  then  proceeds  to  criticise,  para- 
graph by  paragraph,  Dr.  Bentley's  proposals.    Soon  after 
these  Remarks,  paragraph  by  paragraph,  the  Proposals 
appeared,  with  a  pamphlet  entitled  "  A  full  answer  to  all 
the  Remarks  of  a  late  pamphleteer,  by  a  member  of  Trinity 
college,  Cambridge,"  1721,  signed  J.  £.    This  Dr.  Mid- 
dleton, and  all,  imagined  could  be  none  but  tbe  doctor  him- 
self, as  well  from  the  style,  as  the  letters  J..E.  the  two  first 
vowels  of  Richard  Bentley :  and,  upon  this  supposition, 
Dr.  Middleton-  and  others,  in  their  future  remarks,  make 
that  one  great  handle  for  abusing  him.     It  is,  however, 
somewhat  uncertain,  whether  Dr.  Middleton  might  not  be 
m  ranch  mistaken  a*  to  the  author  of  those  Remarks*  as  th* 


W  ilKTHT. 

very  author  of  those  Remarks  was  with  respect  to  the  author 
<Xf  the'  lleiharks  paragraph  by  paragraph,  who  supposed 
them  to  be  made  by  Dr.  Colbatch.  Soon  after  this  came 
out  a  pamphlet,  with  some  further  "  Remarks,  &c.  con* 
taining  a  lull'  answer  to  the  editor's  late  defence  of  his 
Proposals,  a*  well  as  all  his  objections  there  made  against 
my  former  remarks,  by  Conyers  Middleton,  D.  D."  As 
also,  an  anonymous  letter  to  the  reverend  master  of  Trinity 
college,  Cambridge,  editor  of  a  new  Greek  Testament. 
We  also  find,  under  the  catalogue  of  the  doctor's  works  in 
the'BibliOtheca  Bodieiana,  much  about  this  time,  another 
publication,  somewhat  analogous,  and  relating  to  this  affair, 
vifc.  "  An  enquiry  into  the  authority  of  the  primitive  Com* 
plutensian  edition  of'  the  New  Testament,  in  a  letter  to 
archdeacon  Benttey,"  17122,  8vo.  As  to  these  proposals, 
Dr«  Middleton  takes  upon  him  to  say,  that  they  were  only 
published  with  a  view  "that  some  noise  should  be  made 
in  the  world  in  his  favour,  to  support  his  declining  charac- 
ter by  something  great  and  popular,  to  recover  esteem  and 
applause  to  himself,  and  throw  an  odium  and  contempt 
upon  his -prosecutors,  &c."  In  1725,  at  a  public  com- 
mencement on  the  6th  of  July,  the  doctor  made  ah  elegant 
Latin  speech,  on  creating  seven  doctors  of  divinity,  in 
which,  at  the  several  periods,  by  little  notes  below,  is  set 
forth  the  whole  form  of  the  creation  of  a  doctor  of  divinity. 
This  piece  is  usually  joined  to  his  editioa  of  Terence  and 
Phsedrus :  at  least  it  is  added  to  the  Amsterdam  edition  of 

'  them  in  1727,  a  very  neat  editipn,  corrected  for  the  press  by 
the  doctor.  To  these  notes  on  Terence,  he  has  also  added 
those  of  the  learned  Gabriel  Faernius,  and  taken  great 

.  paiifs  in  amending  and  correcting  the  author,  not  only  from 
thosg  ancient  manuscripts  which  Gabriel  Faernius  had  pro- 

\  cured,  but  also  from  whatever  manuscripts*  the  royal  li- 
brary, tfiosfe  of  Cambridge,  or  any  of  his  friends,  could 
afford;  some  of  which,  he  assures  us,  were  of  great  anti- 
quity, and  at  least  next,  and  very  little  inferior,  to  those  of 
Faernius^  the  orthography  of  which,  as  the  most  ancient 
manuscript,  he  altogether  follows;  He  has  likewise  al- 
tered the  text  in  abundance  of  places,  and  assigns  in  the 
notes  the  reason  for  such  alteration.  Then  follows  the 
Schediasma  of  the  metre  and  accents  of  Terence,  by  which 
the  doctor  proves  that  Terence  is  written  ali  m  verse; 
This,  however,  was  a  matter  of  some  controversy  between 
the  kerned  bishop  Hare  and  Qur  author  >  and  -during  th* 


B  K  N  T  L  E  Tr  *>* 

\ 

warmth  of  the  debate.  Will.  Whiston  remarked  how  into* 
lerable  it  was,  that  while  Grotius,  Newton,  and  Locke,  all" 
laymen,  were  employing  their  talents  on  sacred  studies,  such 
clergymen  as  Dr.  Bentley  and  bishop  Hare  were  fighting* 
about  a  play»book.     About  1732,  the  doctor  published  his 
Milton's  "  Paradise  Lost,'*  when  he  was,  as  he  says  in  hi* 
preface,  about  seventy  years  old.     This  is  a  Very  elegant, 
and  beautiful  edition  of  that  poem,  but  cannot  be  said  td 
have  contributed  much  to  the  editor's 'reputation;     Dr, 
Bentley  tells  as,  that  be  had  prepared  a  new  edition  of  the 
poet  Manilius  for  the  press,  which  he  would  have  published, 
bad  not  the  clearness  of  paper,  and  the  want  of  good  types 
and  some  other  occasions,   hindered  him.     He  had  also 
aome  .design  of  publishing  an  edition  of  Hesychius,  as  we 
find  by  Mr.  Grrevius's  letter  to  him,  and  assured  Dr.  Mill; 
he  could,  if  he  pleased,  correct  five  thousand  fauks  in  that 
author.     His  emendations  on  the  Tusculan  Questions  of 
Cicero  are  adjoined  to  Mr.  Davis's  edition  of  that  author: 
from  this  produce  of  his  studious,  we  must  now  pass  to 
that  of  his- more  active,  life,  in  the  memorable  complaints 
of  mal-administration  urged  against  him  by  the  college,  s 
which  Nwere  the  occasion  of  a  long  suit,  whether  the  drown 
or  the  bishop  of  Ely  was  general  visitor.     A  party  in  the 
college,  displeased  at  some  of  his  regulations,  began  to 
talk  of  the  fortieth   statute,  de  Magislri  (si  res  exigat} 
AmetionCy  and  meditated  a  complaint  to  the  bishop  of  Ely. 
The  master  hearing  this,  went  to  bishop  Patrick,  then  at 
Ely,  who  told'  him,  he  had  never  heard  before,  that,  as 
bishop  of  Ely,  he  had  any  thing  to  do  in  the  royal  cdllege. 
of  Trinity ;  called  his  secretary  to  him,  aftd  bid  him  seek 
if  there  was  any  precedent  for  it  in  the  bishop's  archives; 
but  not  one  was  found,  nor  so  much  as  a  copy  of  Trinity, 
college  statutes.     Upon  that,  the  doctor  lent  him  one ;  and 
during  that  bishop's  time  the  matter  was  dropped.     But  in, 
his  successor   Dr.  Moore's   time,    the  party  were  encou- 
raged to  apply  to  the  bishop,  in  1709^  and  avast  number 

•  of  articles  about  dilapidations,  but  not  one  of  immorality, 
bribery,  or  fraud,    were    exhibited   against  the    master. 

'  These  were,  however,  the  subject  of  many  pamphlets  on. 

•  both  sides.  His  lordship  received  the  charge,  intending 
to  proceed  upon  it,  which  he  conceived  himself  sufficiently 
authorised  to  do,  and  required  Dr.  Bentley' s  answer;  which 
he  declined  for  some  time  to  give,  pleading  want  of  form 
in  the  charge  j  became  other  members  of  the  college,  be* 


*lft  .  HKTLEY. 

fides  the  seniors,  had  joined  in  the  accusation,  and  the  se~ 
qiors  themselves,  as  he  alleged,  had  never  yet  admonished' 
him;  from  whence  he  inferred,  that  all  proceedings  on* 
such  a  charge,  and  whatsoever  should  follow  on  the  same* 
foot,  would  be  ipso  facto  null  and  void.     The  bishop,  how*: 
ever,  did  not,  it  seems,  think  this  plea  to  be  material ;  for 
he  insisted  upon  Dr.  Bentley's  answer  to  the. charge;  who, 
upon  that,   began  to  question   what  authority   his  lord* 
ship  had  over  him ;  and,  by  a  petition  presented  to  queen 
Anne,  prayed  "  that  her  majesty  would  take  him  and -the' 
college  into  her  protection,  against  the  bishop's  preten- 
sions,   and    maintain    her    sole    power   and   jurisdiction 
?ver  her   royal    foundation,    and    the  masters  thereof.1*. 
This  petition  was  referred  to  the  then  attorney  and  soli* 
citor- general,  and  they  were  ordered  fully  to  consider  the 
matter,  and  report  their  opinions.     Notice  was  given  at 
the  same  time  to  the  bishop,  that  her  majesty  having  taken  ' 
t^is  affair  into  her  cognizance,  his  lordship  was  to  stay 
proceedings  till  the  queen's  pleasure  was  farther  known.' 
Mr,  attorney  and  solicitor-general  took  some  time  to  con-  - 
sider;  and  were  of  opinion,  the  bishop  had  power  over  the  * 
master.     But  this  report  not  proving  satisfactory  to  some 
persons  then  in  administration,  a  letter  was  brought  to  the 
bishop  from  Mr.  secretary  St  John,  .dated  18th  June,  1711^ 
acquainting  him,  "  that  the  matter  of  the  petition  of  Dr. 
Richard  Bentley,  master  of  Trinity-college  in  Cambridge, 
together  with  the  report  of  Mr.  attorney  and  Mr.  solicitor-  ' 
general,  being  then  before  the  queen,  and  ordered  to  be 
taken  into  consideration,  by  jny  lord  keeper,  assisted  by 
her T majesty's  counsel  learned  in  the. law,  her  majesty 
thought  it  to  be  a  business  of  such  weight  and  consequence, 
that  she  had  commanded  him  (the  secretary)  to  siguify  her 
pleasure  to  his  lordship,  that  be  should  stop  all  further  ' 
proceedings,  according  to  her  majesty's  direction."     But 
the  master  seeing  that  all  discipline  and  studies  would  be 
lost  in  the  college,,  if  that  controversy  were  not  one  way 
or  other  decided,  requested  of  the  ministry  that  he  might 
be  permitted  to  take  bis  trial  under  any  visitor  the  queen 
should  appoint ;  or  if  none  could  be  so  appointed,  that  he 
might  have  leave,  sahojure  regio,  to  be  voluntarily  tried 
under  the  bishop.     Upon  this  the  inhibition  was  taken  off 
jby  Mr.  secretary  St.  John,  by  order  of  the  queen,  signify* 
ing,  "  that  his  lordship  was  at  liberty  to  proceed,  so  far  as 
by  the  law  he  might,"  JJut  hjsjojdsiup  did  not  think  fit  to 


B  E  N  T  L  E  Y.  *&i 

proceed,  till  he  was  served  with  a  rule  of  court  from  the' 
A^ing's-bench,  in  Easter- term  1714,  to  shew  cause  why  a 
writ  of  mandamus  should  not  issue  out  against  him.     The 
bishop,  being  then  at  Ely,  was  applied  to  by  joint  messen- : 
gers  on  both  sides,  to  go  to  the  college,  where  he  might 
have  ended  the  matter  in   two  days.     But  this  was  not1 
thought  so  proper,  and  Ely-house  at  London  was  pitched1 
on,  where,  instead  of  two  days*  the  trial  lasted  at  least  six* 
weeks,  and  the  college  paid  a  thousand  pounds  for  it;: 
three  learned  lawyers,  who  could  know  but  very  little  of 
the  matter,  being  admitted  on  each  side,  to  make  eloquent' 
harangues,  answers,  and  replies,  upon   questions  arising 
from  above  fifty  articles,  in  which  there  was  scarcely  any 
thing  material  that  might  not  easily  be  determined  upon  av 
bare  inspection  of  the  college  statutes,  registers,  and  books 
of  accounts,     The  trial  being  ended,  and  the  cause  ripe; 
for  sentence,  the  bishop's  death  prevented  his  giving  judg- 
ment.    Thus  the  matter  dropped  for  the  present ;  but  was* 
afterwards  revived  in  1728,  when  new  articles  of  Complaint 
against  Dr.  Bentley,  charging  him  with  having  in  many 
instances  made  great  waste  of  the  college  revenue,  and 
violated  the  statutes,  all  founded  on  the  40th  of  Elizabeth, 
were  again  exhibited  to  the  bishop  of  Ely,  as  specially  au- 
thorised and  appointed  to  receive  the  s&me,'  and  to  pro-' 
ceed  thereupon ;  ttiQugh  the  matter  had  been  long  before 
decided  in  favour  of  the  crown,  as  having  the  general  vi- 
sitatorial power.     Upon  this,  a  petition  was  subscribed  by 
the  college,  and  presented  to  his  majesty  under  the  com- 
mon-seal, the  10th  of  August  1728,  and  the  cause  carried 
before  the  king  in  council ;  for  the  college  itself  now  en<~ 
gaged  as  party  in  the  cause  against  the  bishop,  and  above 
fifteen  hundred  pounds  out  of  the  revenues  of  the  college, 
were  spent  in  carrying  it  on.     This  being  referred  to  a 
committee  of  his  majesty's  most  honourable  privy-council, 
Dr.  Fleetwood,  the  lord  bishop  of  Ely,  on  the  2nd  of  No* 
rember,  1728,  also  presented  a  petition  to  his  majesty,-  to. 
be  heard  touching  his  right,  which  was  likewise  referred 
to  the  said  committee.     The  lords  committee,  just  before 
the  day  appointed  for  a  hearing,  viz.  March  13,  1728,  had 
a  printed  pamphlet  pot  into  their  hands,  entitled,  "The 
Case  of  Trinity-coHege ;  whether  the  Crown  or  the  Bishop 
of  Ely  be  General  Visitor ;"  at  the  end  of  which,  as  well 
as  in  their  petition,  the  college  applied  to  the  king,  to  take? 
the  visitatorial  power  (as  by  the  opinion  of  council  he  might 


Aid  JENftn, 

with  their  consent)  into  bis  own  hands,  that  they  might  t># 
only  visited  by  the  crown,  but  not  with  a  view  or  intent  of 
avoiding  a  visitation  or  inquiry  into  the  state  of  the  society, 
for  which  they  were  very  pressing,  both  in  their  petition, 
and  at  the  end  of  this  pamphlet  On  the  fifteenth  the  cause 
came  on. before  the  lords  of  the  committee  of  privy -council, 
taut  was  from  thence  referred-  to  the  king's  bench,  where 
the  May  following  it  was  tried  by  way  of  prohibition,  and 
after  a  long  pleading,  the  judges  unanimously  determined 
it  in  favour  of  the  bishop,  as  to  his  visitatorial  power  over 
the  doctor ;  and.  the  June  following,  the  fellows  exhibited 
their  articles  of  complaint  against  him  before  the  bishop  of 
Ely,  his  lordship  having  two  assistants,  viz.  sir  Henry  Pen* 
rice,  and  Dr.  Bettes worth.  But  it  being  urged,  that  the 
bishop  was  going  to  exercise  a  general  visitatorial  power, 
another  petition  was  preferred  to  his  majesty  and  council, 
by  the  master  and  fellows,  and  a  farther  hearing  appointed: 
in  the  cause,  in  the  court  of  king's  bench,  in  November, 
1729,  &c.  and  in  November,  1731,  we  find  the  cause  had 
gone  against  the  bishop  of  Ely,  by  his  taking  out  a  writ  of 
error,,  for  carrying  the  cause  by  appeal  into  the  house  of 
lords.  The  crown,  however,  at  last,  to  put  an  end  to  the 
dispute  and  disturbance,  (as  fully  impowered  to  do)  took 
both  college  and  master,-  according. to  their  petition,  into 
its  own  jurisdiction  and  visitation,  and  here  the  matter 
ended, 

•  The  proceedings  of  the  university  against  Dr.  Bentley 
in  1717  also,  which  were  represented  as  violent  and  nil- 
justifiable,  as  the  effects  of  a  power  falsely  usurped,  or 
scandalously  abused,  and  as  arising  from,  the  malice  of  at 
party  disaffected  to  the  government,  were  the  cause,  of 
great  ferment  and  uneasiness  in  the  university,  and  raised 
the  curiosity,  and  drew  the  eyes  of  the  whole  nation 
upon  them;  for  which  reason  we  shall  be  a  little  par- 
ticular in '  our  account,  that  we  may  give  the  jreader  a 
just  idea  of  the  affair.  In  October  1717,  the  day  after 
tns  majesty's  visit  to  the  university,  when  several  doc- 
tors in  divinity,  named  by  mandate,  were  attending  in  the 
senate-house  to  receive  their  degrees,  Dr.  Bentley,  on 
creation,  made  a  demand  of  four  guineas ,  from,  each  of 
them,  as  a  fee  due  to  him  as  professor,  over  and  above  a 
broad-piece,  which. had  by  custom  been  allowed  As  a  pre- 
sent on  this  occasion ;  and  absolutely  refused  to  create  any 
<  doctor  till  this  fee  was  paid  him.    This  occasioned  a  long 


a  E  N  T  L  E  Y.'  fit 

4 

and  warm  dispute,  till  at  last  many  of  die  doctors,  and  Dr« 
Middleton  among  the  rest,  consented  to  pay  the  fee  in 
que.  tion,  upon  this  condition,  that  Dr.  Bentiey  should  re* 
store  the  money  if  it  was  not  afterwards  determined  to  be 
his  right.     In  the  next  meeting,  those*  who  had  paid  the 
fee  were  created,  but  he  refused  to  create  such  as  would 
hot  pay  it ;  upon  which  Dr.  Grigg,  then  vice-chancellor, 
gave  orders  that  some  other  doctor  should  perform  the 
ceremony  instead  of  him  ;  and  accordingly  Dr.  Fisher,  the 
master  of  Sydney-college,  created  several  for  .the  usual 
gratuity  of  a  broad-piece.     Upon  this,  they  sent  a  state  of 
the  case  to  the  chancellor,  the  duke  of  Somerset.     Dri 
Bentiey  still  insisted  upon  his  claim ;  but  at  last*  instead 
of  money,  was  content  with  a  note  from  the  rest,  pro-r 
miaiug  the  payment  of  it,  if  it  should  be  determined  for 
him  by  the  king,  or  any  authority  delegated  from  him ; 
and  at  last  submitted  to  create  one  of  the  king's  doctors, 
who  came  last,  and  some  others  who  commenced  after- 
wards, without  either  fee  or  note.     Matters  went  on  thus 
for  near  a  twelvemonth,  the  doctor  being  in  quiet  posses- 
sion of  the  money  and  notes :  but  nothing  being  deter- 
mined about  his  right  or  title  to  it,  Dr.  Middleton  thought 
he  had  reason  to  expect  his  money  again  ;  and  accordingly 
(as  it  is  said)  he  made  a  deman4  of  it,  first  by  letter,  which 
was  taken  no  notice  of,  and  afterwards  in  person,  and  then 
applied  to  the  vice-chancellor  for  a  decree,  which,  from 
the  tender  regard  the  vice-chancellor  had  for  Dr.  Bentiey* 
he  was  some  time  before  he  could  obtain.     At  length,  how-* 
ever,  the  decree  was  granted,  and  a  known  enemy  of  Dn 
Bentley's  employed  to  serve  it,  who  went  to  Trinity-lodge 
on  Tuesday  the  23d  of  September ;  but  whether  through 
ignorance  in  his  own  business,  or  that  he  believed  Dn 
Bentiey,  who  told  him  that  it  signified  nothing,  not  having 
the  consent  of  nine  heads  to  it,  or  that  he  had  some  other 
design  than  that  of  arresting  him,  he  left  the  arrest,  de- 
cree, &c.  with  the  doctor,  and  came  away  without  exe- 
cuting the  vice-chancellor's  orders  at  all.    Dr.  Bentiey  was 
afterwards  arrested  by  another  beadle,  on  the  1st  of  Octo- 
ber, with  a  second  decree,  which  doubtless  argued  the 
invalidity  of  the  first    The  professor  supposing  the  autho- 
rity of  the  arrest  not  sufficient,  refused  to  submit  to  it; 
but  on  farther  consideration  obeyed  the  writ,  and  put  in 
bail.    Every  qns,  but  such  as  were  let  into  the  secret,  ex- 
pected this,  fepr  guineas  affair  would  end  here.    Friday, 


«t2  B  E  N.T  LEY. 

tbe  3d  of  October,  being  appointed  for  the  trial/  the  doc* 
tor  only  appeared  there  by  his  proctor,  which  was  looked 
upon  as  a  contempt  of  the  vice-chancellor's  jurisdiction. 
Dr.  Middleton,  therefore,  by  the  leave  of  the  court,  ap- 
pointed Mr.  Cook  bis  proctor,  who  accused  Dr.  Bentley 
of  contempt  for  not  appearing,  and  moved  for  some  cen- 
sure upon  it,  and  called  for  the  beadle  to  make  a  return  of 
the  first  decree.  But  he  being  confined  in  his  chamber  by 
a  fit  of  the  gout,  there  made  an  affidavit,  by  improving 
some  circumstantial  talk  be  had  with  the  doctor  and  some 
other  gentlemen,  the  subject  of  which  was,  a  complaint  of 
the  ill  usage  he  had  met  with  in  his  attending  at  Dr. 
Bentley'*  lodgings.  Among  other  things,  the  beadle  de- 
posed, That  Dr.  Bentley  said  to  him,  "  I  will  not  be  con- 
cluded by  what  the  vice-chancellor  and  two  or  three  of  his 
friends  shall  determine  over  a  bottle ;"  (thereby  reflecting 
pn  the  clandestine  way  in  which  they  had  proceeded  against 
him,  without  the  formal  consent  of  such  a  number  of  heads 
as  be  thought  necessary  to  make  a  statutable  arrest)^  For 
this  expression,  the  vice-chancellor  suspended  the  doctor 
from  all  his  degrees,  who  had  no  citation,  no  hearing,  not 
so  much,  as  any  notice,  from  any  hand,  of  what  was  then 
doing ;  and  the  vice-chancellor  declared  that  he  would  va- 
cate the  doctor's  professorship  in  two  or  three  days,  if  he 
did  not  make  his  humble  submission.  Three  court  days 
are  allowed  fox  this  submission,  viz.  the  7th,  9th f  and  15th 
of  October.  On  the  two  former  days  his  name  was'  not 
mentioned,  and  on  the  last,  the  vice-chancellor  would  cer- 
tainly have  forgot  to  summon  him,  if  he  had  not  been  re- 
minded by  his  brother  the  dean  of  Chichester.  That  same 
'day  the  vice-chancellor  required  the  professor  to  submit, 
and  own  himself  rightly  suspended,  which  he  refused,  but 
had  recourse  to  the  only  remedy  tljat  was  now  left,  viz. 
an  appeal  to  the  delegates  of  the  university ;  which  was  ar- 
bitrarily refused  him.  On  this  the  vice-chancellor,  think- 
ing it  prudent  to  have  the  sanction  of  the  university  to 
back  him,  called  a.  congregation,  and  on  the  third  court 
day  after  the  suspension,  informed  the  university  of  the 
seeps  he  had  taken,  and  the  message  he  bad  sent  the  pro- 
fessor, which  was,  that  he  required  him  tp  come  and  ac- 
knowledge his  crime,  the  legality  of  his  suspension,-  and 
jpumbly  beg  to  be  restored  to  his  degrees ;  to  which  the 
gentleman  .{be  said)  had  returned  no  answer;  And 'then  he 
commanded  it  to  be  registered,  that  h$  would  deliberate 


B  E  N  T  L  E  Y.  6i* 

farther  of  whit  was  to  be  done,  towards  the  maintenance  of 
the  university  privileges  and  his  own  authority.  Eight 
heads  were  present  in  the  consistory,  viz.  two  visitors  of 
Bene't-college,  Dr.  Covel  and  Dr.  Balderstori ;  three  late 
chaplains  to  his  majesty,  Dr.  Laney,  Dr.  Adams,  and  Dr. 
Sherlock ;  the  rival  professor,  Dr.  Fisher ;  the  masters  of 
Clare-hall  and  St.  John's  college,  Dr.  Grigg  and  Dr.  Jen- 
kin.  These  gentlemen,  at  a  consultation  the  same  after- 
noon, in  the  master  of  Peterhouse's  lodge,  appointed  a 
congregation  the  next  morning  to  degrade  the  professor. 
Bat,  when  the  time  came,  a  friend  of  the  professor's  being 
that  day  one  of  the  caput,  other  business  was  proposed, 
but  not  concluded.  On  Friday  morning,  no  mention  was 
made,  as  ought  to  have  been,  of  the  proceedings  at  the 
last  congregation;  but,  in  the  afternoon,  Oct,  3,  1718,  a 
vote  of  the  body  deprived  Dr.  Bentley  of  all  the  privileges, 
honours,  and  degrees,  that  he  bad  received  from  it.  Upon 
this,  Dr.  Bentley  drew  up  a  petition,  which  he  presented 
to  his  majesty  Oct,  30,  1718,  complaining  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the*  vice-chancellor  and  university,  and  beg- 
ging his  majesty's  relief  and  protection,  as  supreme  visitor 
of  the  university.  The  king  in  council  taking  the  said 
petition  into  consideration,  was  pleased  to  order  the  same 
to  be  sent  to  the  reverend  Dr.  Gooph,  vice-chancellor ; 
*ho  was  thereby  directed  to  attend  his  majesty  in  council 
on  Thursday  the  6th  of  November  1718,  to  give  an  ac- 
count of  the  proceedings  which  occasioned  this  complaint, 
On  this  day  the  case  was  heard  between  the  university  and 
the  doctor,  before  the  king  and  council,  and  afterwards 
referred  to  a  committee  of  council j  but  the  ministry 
being  unwilling  to  interpose  their  authority  with  regard 
to  the  proceedings,  the  matter  was  farther  referred,  in 
a  judicial  way,  to  the  court  of  king's  bench,  where  it  was 
kept  some  time  in  agitation,  At  length1,  however,  the 
proceedings  of  the  university  were  reversed  by  that 
courts  and  on  February  the  7th,  1723-4,  the  court  of 
king's  bench  sent  down  a  mandamus  to  the  university  of 
Cambridge,  to  restore  Mr.  Bentley,  master  of  Trinity 
college,  to  all  his*  degrees',  and  whatever  he*  had  been  de- 
prived of,  &c.  This  was  agreeable  to  a  prophetic  passage 
at  the  end  of  one  of  the  pamphlets,  at  that  time  printed 
in  his  defence :— a  When  our  present  heats  are  over,  1 
question  not  but'  our  professor's  case  will  be  looked  upon 
With  another  eye,  iMt  be  hot  already  seen,  that  the  honoui? 
You.  IV,  U 


*l*  B  E  N  T  L  E  Y, 

of  the  university  was  made  a  pretext  only  to  cove*  the  re* 
6entments  of  some  particular  persons  amongst  its  members. 
As  the  determination  of  it  lies  at  present  before  a  judg-» 
ment  where  merit  and  riot  malice  is  likely  to  be  regarded, 
we  shall  in  a  little  time,  I  m*ke  no  doubt,  with  a  more 
scholar- like  pleasure  than  can  be  perceived  in  this  usage 
of  the  learned  Bentiey,  congratulate  ourselves  upon  his 
restoration  to  his  well -merited  honours." 

After  this  victory  his  time  appears  to  have  been  chiefly 
employed  on  the  literary  undertakings  of  which  we  have 
given  some  account,  until  his  death,  July  14,  1742.  He 
was  buried  in  Trinity  college  chapel. 

The  life  of  this  eminent  scholar  and  critic,  as  given  in 
the  Biographia  Britannica,  although  professedly  corrected 
from  the  first  edition  of  that  work,  remains  a  confused  col* 
lection  of  materials,  from  which  we  have  found  it  difficult 
to  form  anything  like  a  regular  sketch.  Few  names  were 
more  familiar  to  the  scholar  and  the  wit  in  the  first 
three  reigns  of  the  eighteenth  century,  than  that  of  Bent* 
ley,  but  no  approach  has  yet  been  made  to  a  regular  and 
impartial  narrative  of  his  life.  This  is  the  more  to  be  re* 
gretted,  because  he  occupied  a  large  space  of  the  literary 
world,  and  was  connected  by  friendship  or  controversy 
with  some  of  the  most  eminent  writers  of  his  age,  both  at 
home  and  abroad.  ,  It  has  been  justly  observed,  that  when 
we  consider  the  great  abilities  and  uncommon  erudition  of 
Dr.  Bentiey,  it  reflects  some  disgrace  on  our  country,  that 
even  his  literary  reputation  should  so  long  be  treated  with 
contempt,  that  he  should  be  represented  as  a  mere  verbal 
critic,  and  as  a  pedant  without  genius.  The  unjust  light 
in  which  he  was  placed,  was  not  entirely  owing  to  the  able 
men  who  opposed  him  in  the  Boylean  controversy.  It 
arose,  perhaps  principally  from  the  poets  engaging  on 
the  same  side  of  the  question,  and  making  hipi  the  object 
of  their  satire  and  ridicule.  The  "  slashing  Bentiey"  of 
Pope  will  be  remembered  and  repeated  by  thousands  who 
know  nothing  of  this  doctor's  real  merit.  Perhaps  it  may 
be  found  that  this  .asperity  of  Mr.  Pope  was  not  entirely 
owing  to  the  combination  of  certain  wits  and  poets  against 
Dr.  Bentiey,  but  to  personal  resentment  We  are  told 
that  bishop  Atterbury  having  Bentiey  and  Pope  both  at 
dinner  with  him,  insisted  on  knowing  what  opinion  the 
doctor  entertained  of  the  English  Homer ;  he  for  som§ 
tip&e  eluded  the  question,  but,   at  tot*  being  urged  tQ 


1* 


B  E  N  T  L  E  Yv  51* 

speak  out,  he  said :  "  The  verses  are  good  verses ;  but  the 
work  is  not  Homer,  it  is  Spondanus." 

Amidst  all  the  opposition,  however,  raised  against  Dr. 
Bentley,  by  the  wantonness  of  wit,  or  the  spleen  of  con- 
troversy, it  may  not  be  difficult  to  form  a  correct  opinion 
of  his  general  character  from  his  critical  and  controversial 
writings.  His  extensive  learning  is  universally  acknow- 
ledged, yet  the  stern  and  unaccommodating  manners  of 
the  pedant  are  not  less  obvious.  His  critical  powers  were 
perhaps  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  any  man  of  his  time,  and 
would  have  been  the  object  of  unmixed  admiration,  had 
he  exerted  them  with  less  rashness,  and  with  less  of  that 
Conceit  which  sometimes  made  him  value  a  happy  yet  merely 
probable  conjecture,  as  if  it  had  been  a  decision  founded 
on  incontrovertible  proof.  Although  he  possessed  what 
his  enemies  have  not  denied  him,  a  peculiarly  acute  and 
comprehensive  mind,  he  too  often  consulted  his  imagina- 
tion, and  was  seduced  by  that  to  enlarge  the  fair  boun- 
daries of  critical  conjecture  beyond  all  reasonable  measure. 
Of  his  works,  now  to  be  found  in  libraries,  one  may  surely 
be  esteemed  a  valuable  proof  of  his  talents  and  judgment ; 
his  edition  of  Horace :  and  the  loss  of  his  Greek  Testa- 
ment, by  whatever  means  that  work  was  interrupted,  may 
be  considered  as  depriving  the  author  of  what  would  pro- 
bably have  handed  down  his  name  to  posterity  with  the 
highest  honours  due  to  critical  acumen  and  accuracy. 

Besides  the  estimate  we  form  of  him  as  a  scholar,  Bent- 
ley  may  be  viewed  in  two  lights,  as  a  public  and  a  private 
character.  On  the  former,  it  must  be  confessed  that  his 
disputes  with  the  university  have  thrown  a  dark  shade ;  and 
in  both  it  may  be  said,  that  no  man  could  have  created  so 
many  enemies,  without  some  just  provocation!  Whether 
this  consisted  only  in  a  certain  haughty  and  repulsive  ad- 
dress, or  coarseness  of  manners,  and  in  a  want  of  those 
amiable  qualities  which  dignify  social  life  and  official  sta- 
tion ;  or  whether  the  accusations  brought  against  him  were 
of  sufficient  importance  to  justify  the  treatment  he  met 
with,  independent  of  all  personal  considerations,  may  per- 
haps be  ascertained  by  a  close  examination  of  the  evidence 
(yet  accessible)  which  was  produced  on  this  controversy. 
The  restoration  to  his  honours  and  privileges  by  a  court  of 
law,  was  undoubtedly  a  triumph,  as  far  as  those  honours 
and  privileges  were  valuable  to  him;  but  we  do  not  find 
that  he  was  restored  to,  or  indeed  ever  possessed,  that'ge^ 

ljl  2 


516  B  E  N  T  L  E  ¥.• 

neral  esteem  which  his  vast  erudition  and  rank  in  academic* 
life  might  have  commanded  under  other  circumstances. 

Of  his  private  character  we  have  lately  had  some  infor- 
mation from  his  grandson  Richard  Cumberland,  esq.  who 
in  his  own  Memoirs,  published  a  few  years  since,  has  given 
the  following  particulars  : — His  "  ordinary  style  of  con«* 
versation  was  naturally  lofty,  and  his  frequent  use.  of  .thee 
and  thou  with  his  familiars,  carried  with  it  a  kind  of  dicta-.! 
torial  tone  that  savoured  more  of  the  closet  than  the  court. 
This  is  readily  admitted ;  and  this,  on  first  approaches, 
Alight  mislead  a  stranger — -but  the  native  candour  and  in- 
herent tenderness  of  his  heart  could  not  long  be  veiled 
from  observation,  for  his  feelings  and  affections  were  at 
once  too  impulsive  to  be  long  repressed,  and  he  too  care- 
less of  concealment  to  attempt  at  qualifying  them.  Such 
was  his  sensibility  towards  human  sufferings,  that  it  became 
a  duty  with  his  family  to  divert  the  conversation  from  all 
topics  of  that  sort ;  and  if  he  touched  upon  them  himself, 
he  was  betrayed  into  agitations,  which,  if  any  one  ascribes 
to  paralytic  weakness,  he  will  greatly  mistake  a  man,  who* 
to  the  last  hour  of  his  life,  possessed  his  faculties  firm  and 
in  their  full  vigour.  His  emotions  on  these  occasions  had 
no  other  source  and  origin  but  in  the  natural  and  pure  be* 
Bevolence  of  his  heart. 

"  He  was  communicative  to  all  without  distinction  that 
soughtinformation,  or  that  resorted  to  him  for  assistance ;  fond 
of  his  college  almost  to  enthusiasm,  and  ever  zealous  for  the 
honour  of  the  purple  gown  of  Trinity.  When  he  held  exami-r 
nations  for  fellowships,  and  the  modest  candidate  exhibited 
marks  of  agitation  and  alarm,  he  never  failed  to  interpret 
candidly  of  such  symptoms :  and  on  those  occasions  he  was 
never  known  to  press  the  hesitating  and  embarrassed  ex- 
aminant,  but  oftentimes,  on  the  contrary,  would  take  all 
the  pains  of  expounding  on  himself,  and  credit  the  ex- 
onerated candidate  for  answers  and  interpretations  of  his 
own  suggesting/* 

•  Before  Mr.  Cumberland's  death,  he  disposed  of  about 
sixty  volumes  of  Greek  and  Latin  classics  belonging  to 
Dr.  Bentley,  enriched  with  the  doctor's  manuscript  notes. 
These  are  now  in  the  British  museum,  and  it  is  no  secret 
that  the  very  learned  papers  in  the  "  Observer"  on  the 
Greek  poets,  published  by  Mr.  Cumberland  as  his  own, 
were  taken  from  his  grandfather's  MSS.  Some  original 
Jotters  by  Le  Clefc  and  Dr.  Bentley,  between  whom 
was    a   serious   quarrel    respecting   Le   Clerc's  "  Me- 


BENT  L  E  Y.  BIT 

•  • 

Bandri  et  Philemonis  Reliquiae,"  were,  purchased  at  Dn 
Askew' s  sale  by  the  university  of  Cambridge,  and  printed 
in  the  ninth  volume  of  Mr.  Maty's  review.  In  18<?7,  the 
rev.  Dr.  Charles  Burney  presented  to  his  learned  friends  a 
quarto  volume,  magnificently  printed,  of  inedited  letters 
of  Dr.  Bentley,  &c»  under  the  title  "  R.  Bentleii  et  doc- 
torum  virorum  Epistolae,  partim  mutuae.  Accedit  Richardi 
Dawesii  ad  Joannem  Taylorum  epistola  singularis."  Grae- 
vins  is  Dr.  Bentley's  principal  correspondent  in  this  in- 
teresting volume,  which  does  so  much  honour  to  the  mu- 
nificent spirit  of  its  editor,  himself  tali  studio  Jacillime 
princeps. 

Dr.  Bentley  married  a  daughter  of  sir  John  Bernard,  of 
Brampton,  in  Huntingdonshire,  by  whom  he  had  one  soty 
Richard,  of  whom  in  the  next  article,  and  two  daughters^ 
Elizabeth  and  Joanna.  Elizabeth  first  married  Humphrey 
Ridge,  esq.  and  after  his  decease  the  rev.  Dr.  Favell, 
rector  of  Wittdn,  near  Huntingdon*  Joanna,  the.  Phebe 
of  Dr.  Byron's  celebrated  pastoral  (first  published  in  the; 
Spectator),  married  the  rev.  Denison  Cumberland,  after- 
ward bishop  of  Kilmore,  in  Ireland,  and  father,  by  this 
lady,  of  Richard  Cumberland,  esq.  the  late  dramatic  and 
miscellaneous  writer. 

We  shall  now  attempt  a  catalogue  of  Dr.  Bentley's 
works,  not  hitherto  noticed,  and  of  the  principal  of  those 
published  respecting  his  controversies,  as  far  as  the  latter. 
can  be  ascertained.  His  first  publication,  as  already  no- 
ticed, was  his  epistle  to  Dr.  Mill,,  under  the  title  :  1.  "  Jo- 
hannis  Antiocheni  Cognomento  Malalae  Historia  Chronica 
e  MSS.  Cod.  Bibliothecae  Bodleianae,  nunc  primum  edita^  - 
cum  interp.  et  notis  Edm.  Chilmeadi  et  triplice  indice  re** 
rtfm,  autorum  et  vocum  barbarum.  Prseraittitirr  dissertatio 
de  autore,  per  Humfredum  Hodium,  S.  T,  B.  Coll.  Wad- 
bami  Socium.  Accedit  Epistola  Richardi  Bentleii  ad  CI* 
V.  Jo.  Millium,  S.  T.  P.  cum  indice  scriptdrum,  qui  ibi 
emendantur,"  Oxonii,  1691,  8vo.  2.  His  ."  Sermons  at 
Boyle's  Lectures,"  1693-4,  4to.  His  controversy  with 
Mr.  Boyle  on  the  edition  of  £halaris,  which  produced  in 
1697,  3.  His  "Dissertation  upon  the;  Epistles  of  The- 
mistocles,  Socrates,  Euripides,  Phalaris,  and  the  Fables  of 
,3£sop,"  at  the  end  of  the  second  edition  of  Wotton's 
"  Reflections  on  ancient  and  modern  learning."  This  oc- 
casioned Mr.  Boyle's  work,  "  Dr.  Bentley's  Dissertation 
on  the  Epistles  of  Phalaris  and  the  Fables  of  ^Esop  exa- 


I 

Bit  BENTLEY, 

mined,    1698;    usually  known  by    the  title  of  ft  Boyte 
against  Bentley."     Dr.  Bentley  then  published,  4.  "  Dr, 
Bentley's  answer  to  the  above,'*  commonly  known  by  the 
name  of  "  Bentley  against  Boyle,"  a  curious  piece,  inter- 
spersed with  a  great  deal  of  true  wit  and  humour.     This 
was  for  some  time  a  scarce  book ;  but  it  was  reprinted  in 
1777,    by  Bowyer   and   Nichols,    with  the  advantage  of 
several  valuable  notes  and  observations,  either  collected 
from,  or  communicated  by,  bishops  Warburton  and  Lowth, 
Mr.  Upton,  Mr.  W.  Clarke,  Mr.  Markland,  Dr.  Salter,  Dr. 
Owen,  and  Mr.  Toup.     These  were  the   several  pieces 
which  appeared  in  this  great  dispute,  excepting  some  few 
that  were  published  against  the  doctor,  hardly  any  of  which 
are  now  known,  except  "A  short  review. of  the  contro- 
versy between  Mr.  Boyle  and  Dr.  Bentley,"  1701,  8vo. ; 
and  previous  to  that,  "  A  short  account  of  Dr.  Bentley's 
humanity  and  justice  to  those  authors  who  have  written 
before  him,  with  an  honest  vindication  of  Thomas  Stanley, 
esq.  and  his  notes  on  Callimachus.     To  which  are  added 
some  other  observations  on  that  poet,  in  a  letter  to  the 
honourable  Charles  Boyle,  esq.  with  a  Postscript,  in  rela- 
tion to  Dr.  Bentley's  late  book  against  him.     To  which  is 
added  an  Appendix,  by  the  bookseller,  wherein  the  doc- 
tor's misrepresentations  of  all  the  matters  of  fact,  wherein 
he  is  concerned,  in  his  late  book  about  Phalaris's  Epistles, 
are  modestly  considered,  with  a  letter  from  the  honourable 
Charles  Boyle  on  that  subject,"  Lond.  1699,  8vo.     5.  "  An- 
notationes,  in  Callimachum   ultra,  1697.    Collectio  frag- 
mentorum  Callimachi  et  Annotationes  ad  eadem."     Of  this 
an  edition  was  published  in   1741,  8vo.      6.  "  Remarks 
upon  a  late  discourse  on  Free-thinking  (by  Collins)  in  two 
parts,    by  Phileleutherus   Lipsiensis,"  Lond.  1713,  8vo; 
1719,  1725.     7.  "  Q.  Horatius  Flaccus  ex  recensione,  et 
cum  notis  et  emendationibus  R.  Bentleii,"  Camb.  1711, 
4to;  Amst.  1713  and   1728,  8vo ;    Leipsic,  1763,  2  vols. 
8.  "  Proposals  for  printing  a  new  edition  of  the  Greek 
Testament,"  Lond.  1721,  4to.     Of  the  pamphlets  pro  and 
ton  respecting  bis  disputes  with  his  college  and  with  the  uni- 
versity, a  very  correct  catalogue  may  be  seen  in  Gough's 
"  British  Topography."  l 

1  Biog.  Brit.— Dodsley's  Poems,  vol.  VI.  where  is  the  only  specimen  of  Bent- 
ley's poetry. — Stillingfleet's  Life,  8vo.  p.  149. — Bp.  Newton's  Life,  8vo.  p.  9, 
18,  &c. — Cumberland's  Life,  4to. — Bowles's  edition  of  Pope's  Works.— Gent. 
Mag.  see  Index,  and  vol.  LXXI. — Nichols's  Literary  Anecdotes,  Yol.  III.—* 
Winston's  life*—  Leiand's  DelsUcal  Writers,  &c.  &c 


BENTLEY.  B19 

"  BENTLEY  (Richard),  only  son  of  the  preceding,  was 
a  man  of  various  and  considerable  accomplishments,  with 
wit,  genius,  and  elegant  manners ;  but  was  imprudent  in 
his  conduct,  frequently  involved  in  distresses,  and  reduced 
to  situations  uncongenial  with  his  feelings,  and  unfavour- 
able to  the  cultivation  and  encouragement  of  his  talents. 
He  was  educated  at  Trinity  college,  Cambridge,  lived  for 
some  years  after  his  marriage  in  the  South  of  France,  and  in 
the  island  of  Jersey,  and  afterwards,  about  1763,  at  Ted- 
dington,  near  Twickenham,  in  consequence  of  bis  intimacy 
with  Mr.  Horace  Walpole.  His  nephew  informs  us  that 
u  they  carried  on,  for  a  long  time,  a  sickly  kind  of  friend- 
ship, which  had  its  hot  (its  and  cold  fits,  was  suspended 
and  renewed,  but  never  totally  broken."  Mr.  Bentley  was 
the  designer  of  many  of  the  gothic  embellishments  of  * 
Strawberry-hill,  and  made  also  the  designs  for  an  editiori 
of  Gray's  'works,  printed  there.  In  one  of  these  tie  per- 
sonifies himself  as  a  monkey,  sitting  under  a  withered  tree 
with  a  pallet  in  his  hand,  while  Gray  reposes  under  the 
shade  of  a  flourishing  laurel.  "  Such  a  design,"  says  Mr. 
Cumberland,  "  with  figures  so  contrasted,  might  flatter 
<Jray,  and  gratify  the  trivial  taste  of  Walpole  ;  but  in  my 
poor  opinion  it  is  a  satire  on  copper-plate,  and  my  uncle 
has  most  completely  libelled  both  his  poet  and  his  patron, 
without  intending  so  to  do."'  In  Walpole,  he  certainly 
did  not  find  a  very  liberal  patron,  yet  it  is  said  that  he  en- 
joyed a  place  of  about  if  100  a  year  by  that  gentleman's 
'  means,  and  had  also  the  profits  of  the  "  Lucan,"  printed 
at  Strawberry-hill,  amounting  to  about  «£40.  For  the 
translation  of  "  HentznerV  Account  of  England,"  on 
which  Mr.  Walpole  employed  him,  he  was  promised  J?  100 ; 
but  this,  according  to  Mr.  Cole's  account,  his  patron  re- 
served for  his  family. 

About  the  conclusion  of  the  last  reign,  his  nephew,  Mr. 
Cumberland,  brought  him  acquainted  with  the  celebrated 
Bubb  Doddington,  afterwards  lord  Melcombe;  and  by  his 
means  he  got  some  situation  under  administration,  which 
he  does  not  specify.  He  adds,  however,  that  there  was 
not  a  man  of  literary  talents  in  the  kingdom,  who  stood  so 
high  in  favour  with  the  premier,  lord  Bute,  as  Mr.  Bent- 
ley,  and  though,  when  his  lordship  went  out  of  office,  Mr. 
Bentley  lost  every  place  of  profit  that  could  be  taken  from 
bim,  he  continued  to  enjoy  a  pension  of  «£500  per  annum, 
in  which  bis  widow  had  her  life,  and  received  it  many  years 


520 


B  J'N-TLE  Y. 


after  his  decease.  It  was  in  consequence  of  this  Connec- 
tion that  he  wrote  in  1765,  "  Patriotism/'  a  satirical  poem, 
attacking  Wilkes  and  his  friends ;  reprinted  in  Dilly's  Re- 
pository, vol.  IV.  Before  this  he  had  composed  his  dram* 
of  "  The  Wishes,"  which  was  privately  rehearsed  at  lord 
Melcombe's  villa,  but  was  unsuccessful  on  the  stage.  Mr. 
Bentley  in  1761  wrote  his  poetical  "  Epistle  to  lord  Mel- 
colmbe,"  and  Mr.  Cumberland  regrets  that,  if  it  be  in  the 
bands  of  any  of  Mr.  Bentley" s  family,  it  should  be  with- 
held from  the  public,  not  knowing  that  Mr.  Bentley  pub* 
lished  it  himself  in  the  St.  James's  Chronicle  in  April  1763, 
in  consequence  of  Lloyd,  the  poet,  having  printed  an  in- 
correct copy  in  his  "  St.  James's  Magazine."  Mr.  Bent- 
ley's  other  dramas  were,  "  Philodamus,"  1767,  which 
was  also  unsuccessful ;  and  the  "  Prophet,"  a  posthumous 
comedy,  1788,  performed  for  a  few  nights.  He  died  in 
'  Abingdon-street,  Westminster,  Oct.  23,  1782. l 

*  Cumberlaftd's  Life. — Cole's  MS  Athens.— Davies'i  life  of  Garrick,  vol,  f. 
pi  335.— Lord  Oxford's  Works,  vol.  V.  p.  261—353. 


INDEX 


TO   THS 


FOURTH   VOLUME. 

Those  marked  thus  *  are  new.  , 

Those  marked  f  are  re-written,  with  additions. 


Page 

Barnbveldt,  John 1 

Baro,  Peter ib. 

f Bonaventure 4 

♦Barocci,.  Francis. 5 

■fBaroccio,  Fred ib. 

♦Baron,  Bernard 7 

Hyacinth ib. 

■  Michael 8 

* Richard 10 

* Vincent 12 

fBaronius,  Csesar . . . .  ib. 

♦Barradas,  Sebastian 17 

Barral,  Peter ib. 

♦Barre,  Francis 18 

♦—  Lewis ib. 

* Joseph 19 

Barrelier,  James. 20 

Barrere,  Peter ib. 

♦Barret,  George ib. 

* John 22 

* Stephen 23 

Barrington,  Lord. ........  ib. 

* Daines 31 

* Samuel 32 

Barros,  John 36 

♦Barrow,  Isaac,  Bp 37 

t — math 39 

♦Barry,  George 47 

* Girald 48 

*"  James,  lord 52 

* artist 53 

Bartas,  Will,  du 59 

Barth,  John 61 

*Barthelemi,  J.  J 63 

*Barthes  de  Marmorions  ....  68 

Barthius,  Caspar 69 

Bartholine,  Caspar 71 

Thomas 72 

•»  Thomas,  son ...  74 

* — Erasmus ib. 

Bartholomew  of  the  Martyrs  ib. 


Pag* 

Bartoli,  Daniel.. 76 

♦Bartolo .  ib. 

Bartolpcci,  Jul. 77 

Barton,  Eliz ib. 

fBarwick,  John 80 

t Peter 89 

♦Basedow,  John 91 

Basil,  St 94 

* Bp 96 

fBasilides ib. 

♦Basin .98 

*Basier,  or  Basire,  Jsaac 99 

fBasinge,  John 103 

♦Basire,  James 104 

Baskerville,  Sir  Simon 105 

— r John 106 

♦Basnage,  Benj 108 

♦ Anthony 109 

♦ Henry 110 

•j. r.  James ib. 

-j. de  Beauval 115 

Bassantin,  James ib. 

♦Basset,  Fulk 117 

t Peter 119 

♦Basseville,  N.  1 120 

♦Bassi,  Laura ib. 

♦Bassius,  Henry 121 

♦Bassol,  John 122 

Bassompierre,  Francis ib, 

Basta,  George 124 

Bastard,  Thomas ib. 

♦Bastide,  John  F 125 

fBaston,  Robert 126 

Bast  wick,  Dr.  John 127 

Bate,  George 123 

t John 130 

t Julius 131 

* James 132 

Bateeumbe,  William 133 

fBateman,  William ib. 

fBates,  William 135 


523 


INDEX. 


Page 

♦Bathe,  Henry  de; 138 

* William 140 

♦Bathelier,  James 141 

Bathurst,  Earl „ 142 

+*— —  Ralph 143 

♦Batman,  Stephen 149 

♦Batmanson 150 

Batoni,  Pompeo 151 

*Batsch,  A.  J.  G.  C 157 

fBattaglini,  Mark 158 

fBattely,  Dr 159, 

.    Batteux,  Charles ib. 

fBattie,  Wm 160 

♦Battishill,  Jonathan 165 

♦Baty,  Richard 167 

♦Baudart,  William ib. 

fBaudelot,  Charles 168 

♦Bauderon,  Brice 170 

Baudier,  Michael ib. 

Baudius,  Dominic 171 

Baudot,  Nicholas 173 

Baudouin,  Benedict 174 

* Francis .  ib. 

* John 177 

♦Baudrand,  Michael ib. 

*Bauhin,  John 178 

f John 179 

t Gaspard 180 

fBauldri,  Paul 181 

Baulot,  James 182 

♦Beaum6,  Anthony 183 

James  F ib. 

♦Baumgarten,  Alexander.. .  184 

♦Baune,  James ib. 

fBaur,  John  William . .  185 

fBausch,  J.  L 186 

Baxter,  Andrew 187 

Riehard 190 

+ William 200 

f  Bayard,  Chevalier  de 203 

♦Bayer,  John 208 

f T.  S .209 

♦Bayf,  John 210 

+ — -—  Lazarus 211 

♦Bayle,  Francis ,\  . .  212 

■  ^     Peter ib. 

Baylis,  William 222 

fBayly,  Lewis ib. 

* John 223 

Thomas 224 

♦Baynard,  Anne 225 

Baynes,  John 227 


♦Baynes,  Paul 229 

* Ralph 230 

* Sir  Thomas ib. 

♦Bayro,  Peter 232 

*Bazin,  N ib. 

Be,  William  le ib* 

♦Beach,  Thomas 233 

fBeacon,  Thomas ib. 

Beale,  Mary 234 

* Robert 235 

♦Bearcroft,  Philip 236 

Beard,  John ib. 

Beaton,  David*. 237 

f James 245 

* James 248 

♦Beattie,  Dr 249 

Beau,.Charles  le 263 

John 264 

* John  Baptist  ......  265 

fBeaucaire  de  Peguilon ib. 

♦Beauchamps,  Joseph 266 

—————  Pierre 267" 

Beauchateau,  F.  M 268 

fBeaver,  John ib. 

Beaufils,  William 269 

♦Beaufort,  Henry ib. 

Margaret 274 

♦Beaumarchais,  P.  A. 277 

Beaumelle,  L.  A 279 

fBeaumont,  Sir  John 281 

t  Francis 283 

t — -r  Joseph 28ff 

fBeaune,  Fiorimond  de 288 

fBeaurain,  John  de 289 

♦Beaurieu,  Gaspard ib: 

fBeausobre,  Isaac 290 

•f — ■  Lewis 294 

♦Beauzeej  Nicholas 29£T 

♦Bebele,  Balthazar ; . . .  29ff 

f— —  Henry ib. 

fBecan,  Martin ib. 

♦Beccadelli,  Anthony 297 

— — -  Lewis 299 

♦Beccaria,  Marquis ib. 

« — —  James  Barth 300 

Jofcn  Baptist 308k 

Becher,  John  Joachim. . .  „  308 

fBecker,  Daniel 304 

Becket,  Thomas ib. 

fBeckingham,  Charles 31(? 

fBeckington,  Thomas .....  3  IT 
♦Beckwith,  Thomas 3 18 


INDEX. 


523 


•   mWr  Page 

fBeequet,  Ajathony.  .;.;.. 319 

Bectoz,  Claude  de ib. 

fBeda 320 

Noel .- 327 

♦Beddoes,  Thomas 328 

fBeddl,  William 332 

OBederic,  Henry 344 

♦Bedford,  Arthur ib. 

Hilkiah 347 

■  Thomas ib. 

Bedloe,  Capt 348 

*Bedraschi ib. 

*Bega,  Cornelius 349 

Beger,  Lawrence ib. 

Begon,  Michael 350 

♦IteguiUet,  Edmund 351 

♦Beham,  Hans ; . . .  352 

f Martin 353 

Behn,  Aphara 358 

♦Behrens,  C.  B 360 

Beidhavi 361 

*Beier,  Adrian ib. 

♦fieisch,  J.  Francis ib. 

Beithar 362 

♦Bek,  Anthony ib. 

t David 364 

♦fieka,  John 366 

♦Bekinsau,  John ib. 

Bekker,  Balthasar. ., 367 

fBel,  John  James 370 

.  Matthias 371 

Belchier,  John ...........  372 

*Be'grado,  James  ........  374 

♦Belgrave,  Richard 375 

fBelidor,  Bernard 376 

Beling,  Richard  . . .  .• 377 

JBell,  Beaupre' 379 

* William 381 

♦Bella,  Stefano 382 

♦Bellamy,  Thomas 383 

Bellarmin,  Robert ib. 

Bellay,  Joachim 385 

John 387 

1  Martin 388 

William ib. 

Belleau,  Remi 390 

Belleforest,  Francis  de ib. 

Bellegarde,  John  . : 391 

♦Bellenden,  Sir  John ib. 

■  William .......  393 

Bellenger,  Francis 395 

BeBet,  Charles ib. 


BeUm,  Nicholas . .' 305 

fBellini,  Gentile. 396 

t — •*— i  John 397 

Lawrence ib. 

fBellocq,  Peter 398 

tBeUoi,  Peter ...Ah; 

t P.  Lawrence 400 

fBellori,  John  Peter 402 

*Belloste,  Augustine 403 

♦Belmeis,  Richard ib. 

* R.  nephew 404 

*Belmeys,  John  . ib. 

Belon,  Peter 405 

Belsimce,  Henry  F ib. 

fBembo/Peter 409 

♦Bemmel,  Ch.  Sebastian  . . .  414 

* William  . ,  #. ib. 

fBenavidio,  Mark 415 

fBenbow,  John 416 

*Benci,  Francis 428 

♦Bencivenni,  Joseph 429 

♦Bencius,  Hugo ib. 

♦Bender,  Baron  de 430 

f  Bendlowes,  Edward ib. 

Benedict,  St .433 

of  Peterborough  434 

r  Biscop 435 

XI.  pope 436 

XIL  pojtt, 438 

XIII.  pope 439 

XIV.  pope 441 

* Rene 442 

fBenedictus,  Alexander 443 

♦ ' Peter 444 

fBenefield,  Sebastian ib. 

♦Benevoli,  Anthony 446 

Benezet,  Anthony ib. 

♦Bengel,  John  Albert 447 

Beni,  Paul 448 

fBenjamin  of  Tudela 449 

♦Benignus,  St 450 

Benivieni,  Jerome 451 

♦Benn,  William t . .  452 

♦Bennet,  Benjamin 453 

Christopher ib. 

Henry , 454 

Sir  John 458 

Robert 459 

t Thomas 460 

♦Benning,  John  Bodecher. .  465 

♦Bennon 46$ 

tBenoit,  Elias.. ib. 


t 

*. 
*. 
*. 


t 

*, 


* 


5*4  INDEX. 


Bogerade,  Isaac „ . ; 467     *Beiitinek,  duke. . , , 494 

Bffl&oa,  George 470  *Bentivoglio,  Hercules  ....  496 

* William ^472     f Guy 497 

Bentham,  Edward 475     * ■ Hyppofitus  . .  498 

-               James* ., 480  *— — —  Cornelius. . . .  4W 

»- —  Thomas 484     fBentley,  Dr 50O 

«Bentinck>  William 486     f     ■   '    ■  Richard £19 


END  OF  THE  FOURTH  VOLUME. 


0 

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